


Fear and Family (Or, the One Where Kíli Is the Sensible One)

by Lumelle



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF Kíli, Baby Dwarves, Dwarf Courting, Dwarven Politics, F/M, M/M, Making Up, Mpreg, Overprotective Dwarves, Pining, Stubborn Dwarves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2016-03-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 23:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 43,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5351606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo isn't sure of his welcome in the mountain, and thus returns to the Shire as soon as he can. Somewhat to his surprise, Ori goes with him -- but it turns out Ori has his own reasons for leaving Erebor behind. Well, Bilbo's quite used to being the talk of the Shire.</p><p>The line of Durin might suffer of thick skulls, but fortunately Kíli is less stubborn than his uncle and brother, and decides to fix things, even if that means taking his newlywed wife for a ride all the way to the Shire and beyond. Of course, he doesn't yet know what he'll see there -- but he does know how to fix things. Even if it means giving up his claim to the throne.</p><p>(Let's not kid ourselves -- that's his favourite part.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, this is my take on the ever popular "Bilbo returns to the Shire pregnant" trope, except it's not Bilbo who is pregnant.
> 
>  **Please note** that this fic contains discussion/fears (but NO actual instances) of forced abortion, loss of child, poor treatment of illegitimate children, and related matters. There is also mpreg (with an off-screen birth scene) and Durins being Durins. Please read accordingly.
> 
> Of the names in this chapter, Savi is Finnish for "clay" and Nuoli for "an arrow".

So perhaps he was being a bit of a coward.

Not that he was going to call it that, of course. He had every right to leave, after all, and wouldn't hear anyone telling him differently. Really, he had to leave, what with the banishment and all. Perhaps Thorin had spoken nice words to him afterwards, but that had been when Thorin had thought he was going to die. People did strange things when they thought they were dying, forgiving a traitor wouldn't have been nearly the strangest. Thorin might well have changed his mind now that he was sure to live, and Bilbo wasn't going to hang around long enough to see that happen.

So, yes. He was a coward.

He felt sorry for doing so, of course, especially when the others asked him to stay, Balin with his friendly words and Fíli with his reassurances. He turned them all down, mumbled something about getting back to his home and his armchair and his life, invited them all over whenever they were nearby, and turned to leave.

He might have expected someone to run after him. He hadn't expected that someone to plan on joining him.

"Ah. You don't mind, do you?" Ori worried his lip, looking at Bilbo as though he expected him to refuse his presence. "It's just, it's a long way to cross alone, and since Gandalf promised to arrange for you to get back, I thought I'd tag along and take advantage of the safe passage."

"Ah, of course I don't mind." Bilbo blinked. "It's just, I didn't expect anyone would like to come along."

"Yes, well, I'm heading back to Ered Luin." Ori adjusted his bags. "I mean, of course I could stay here, but it's not like there's going to be any work for a scribe until there are more people around, right now it's all stonework and carrying things around and those aren't exactly my strengths. And, well, I grew up in Ered Luin, Erebor might be nice to look at but it's not really home, you know?"

"But your brothers are staying, aren't they?" Bilbo paused, thinking of that. "Wait. Do they know you're leaving?"

"Of course!" Ori squeaked, looking shocked at the mere suggestion. "It's just, they were both born in Erebor, this is home for them. And, well, I might come back later, you know? When there's more for me to do. But right now I'd just be in the way."

"Right." Bilbo frowned. Something here wasn't right, but he couldn't figure out what. "Well, if you're certain that it's what you want, and if your brothers think it's a good idea. I'd rather hate to go with you only to have them show up and drag you away in the middle of Mirkwood or something."

"No, no, I cleared everything with them." Ori glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the mountain. "They weren't too happy, of course, but it's not like they can really stop me, I'm an adult dwarf even if I'm still pretty young. Dori offered to come with me, being Dori, but I think he'll be happier here. And it's not like I'll be gone forever, anyway."

"Well, I'll be happy for the company, I suppose." Bilbo leaned closer and added in a conspiratorial whisper, "Gandalf isn't always the best company for conversation, if you know what I mean."

Ori giggled, sounding only a little bit nervous at the idea of offending the wizard, and, well, that was good enough for Bilbo right now.

Ori wasn't bad company, he soon found. He was a bit shy, yes, but then Bilbo did occasionally prefer silence. And he'd been right, Ori certainly made for better conversations than Gandalf, who spent half his time being mysterious just for the sake of being mysterious. It also didn't take long for Ori to open up to Bilbo, and though he still avoided talking about his decision to leave Erebor, he was quite happy to chat about just about anything else. He seemed curious to learn more about hobbits, and returned the favour by giving Bilbo interesting little bits of information about dwarves in turn. Not that he hadn't learnt quite a lot about dwarves after spending so long with a full thirteen of them, of course, but some of the finer points of dwarven culture had rather been missed during their journey, and it was interesting to hear about them.

Really, everything was going perfectly well until they were halfway through Mirkwood, following the road with a few elves for guides, and Bilbo started his morning by finding Ori throwing up in the bushes.

"Are you sick?" Bilbo frowned, offering Ori water to rinse his mouth with. He might not have liked the woods, still, but at least with elves in their company they didn't have to worry about getting lost and running out of supplies. "Is it the air here, or did you eat something that didn't agree with you?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really." Ori tried to offer him a weak little smile, but Bilbo wasn't quite that easy to fool. "No reason to worry or anything."

"I rather think it's up to me to decide when I ought to worry, thank you." Bilbo frowned. "You look awfully pale, too. Are you sure you aren't sick? I'm sure the elves can find something to make you feel better."

"Ah. I really don't think they can help overly much in this instance." Ori sighed. "It's, well. It's not something that their medicines would do anything about."

"So you are ill!" Ha. As though he was going to believe such a bad lie. "And why do you think they could not help you?"

"Because it's not something that might be cured. At least, not in any way I'm willing to think of." Ori shuddered as though he'd just thought of something terrible.

"Well, if you aren't well, I'd like to know if there's something I can do to help, at least." Bilbo frowned. "We've a long way still to go, after all. And if nothing else, I know Gandalf's planning to take us along to Rivendell, and I hear Lord Elrond is a very accomplished healer. He can help you, I'm sure about that, no matter what it is."

Ori seemed to hesitate for another moment, then sighed. "Well, I suppose you'll find out anyway before we part ways. But not now, hmm?" He glanced at the elves who were taking down the little camp they'd had during the night. "It's, ah. Not something I want to discuss around everyone."

"Right." Bilbo nodded. That, at least, he could understand.

Ori waited until rather late in the day. They were walking side by side, while most of their elven guides had scattered into the woods for scouting, the remaining one deep in conversation with Gandalf about some matter or another. This was when Ori drew closer to Bilbo, drawing a deep breath. "Ah. You have to promise not to tell anyone."

Bilbo frowned but nodded. Ori looked awfully serious about this. He hoped he wasn't gravely ill. But if he was, surely he would not have been travelling? "I promise."

"Right." Ori hesitated again, then spoke quickly as though afraid he might run out of courage if he was too slow, the words almost stumbling over each other. "I'm with child. Well, I think I might be. But I'm pretty sure I am, really, everything points to that, and besides there's the sickness and everything."

"What?" Bilbo blinked. "I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you said you were with child?"

"I am." Ori nodded, a small flush on his cheeks. "Ah, I know it doesn't look like it yet, but I'm not that far along. The only real sign is the sickness, really, and I do get tired, but not so much I couldn't travel."

"You don't have to convince me of your ability to travel, I promise you. It's just… I thought you were a lad?" Of course he had heard that female dwarves could be rather similar to their male counterparts, had seen the picture in Glóin's locket often enough to know they certainly could be just as bearded, but he had thought there was at least some difference to their shape and such things. And, well, out of everyone in the company, Ori was one of the least curved ones, for all that he wasn't quite as slim for his height as Fíli and Kíli were.

"I am." Ori nodded again, then seemed to notice Bilbo's confusion, as he hurried to explain. "Ah, it's, well. We dwarves are different from the other races, in this way. We do have lads and lasses, but, well." He shook his head. "For whatever reason, we have a lot more lads than lasses. And out of those we do have, not everyone decides to marry or to have children. If only the lasses could bear, we would have died out a long time ago."

"So, what?" Surely he was misunderstanding something here. "Your lads can bear children?"

"Right." Ori worried his lip. "And, well. I'm pretty sure I'm with child, I know the signs well enough. I was rather hoping the elves in Rivendell could tell for sure, though I should be starting to show by the time I get to Ered Luin, anyway."

"Is that why you're returning? You want to have your child back home?" That at least made more sense than Ori just deciding to abandon his brothers and Erebor both without so much as a second thought. "But what about the other parent? I mean… there is one, right? You don't just get with child all on your own?"

"It's… complicated." Ori sighed. "I'll tell you at some point, all right? But not now, not here." He shuddered, looking around at the trees. "I'm not entirely sure the trees aren't listening right now."

This was, as it happened, the most Bilbo got out of Ori until Rivendell. He tried to keep a closer eye on the lad after that, noticed more signs of his nausea and fatigue, helped him where he could. If Ori was going to tell him about his child's parentage, he would do so on his own time, and if he didn't want to, it would do no good for Bilbo to push.

He remembered huddling in the ruins of Erebor as they waited for Thorin's madness to come to one end or another, remembered Ori leaning against Fíli in his exhaustion, and wondered if they weren't both running away from much the same thing.

It was in Rivendell that Ori finally chose to speak more freely. They hadn't had much privacy on the way over the mountains, with Gandalf and the elves keeping a close eye on their smaller companions, and before that there had been the horrible gloom of the forest and then the plains of Beorn's lands, where there was always someone close as there was no reason to wander far for scouting. Now, however, they were staying in Rivendell for a few days, and in the safety of the Last Homely House their companions had decided to leave them to their own devices. They would be changing company, anyway, with Thranduil's elves returning home while some of Elrond's people would be seeing them safe all the way to Bree.

"So." Ori was fidgeting with his journal, staring at a page he hadn't written anything on in quite a while. Not that Bilbo had been keeping count or anything, he'd just been sitting next to Ori with his pipe and, well, it was hard not to notice that he wasn't really writing at all. "Do you really want to know?"

"I have to say I'm curious, yes." Bilbo nodded. "It seems strange you'd be leaving your brothers behind and go to have the child all alone, your old home or not. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, of course, but if you do want to tell me, I'll listen."

"Right." Ori kept his eyes on his journal. "It's, ah. It's not about where I want to be or anything like that. It's… it's about the babe's father. The other one, that is."

"Oh?" That didn't sound good, certainly not since Ori had said himself he wasn't far along with the child. It couldn't be that he was returning to the father, which could only mean… "You're trying to get away from him, whoever he is."

"Yes." Ori closed his eyes.

"Ori." Bilbo was almost surprised at how harsh his voice was. "If someone hurt you —" Not Fíli. He couldn't believe that of Fíli. But here was Ori, sweet young Ori who could not possibly lie…

"No, no! It's nothing like that," Ori spoke hastily, his eyes flying wide. "No, nothing was done to me against my will! It's just… well." He sighed. "I'm not sure he'd be too happy to hear I am having a child, that's all."

"And why do you think so?"

"Ah." Ori wet his lips, at last glancing Bilbo's way. "You, well. You probably know who he is."

"I do have something of an inkling, yes." Bilbo nodded. "You were rather close to a certain golden-haired prince."

"Right." Ori sighed and nodded. "Except, well, he's a prince. Thorin's heir, too, because things aren't difficult enough otherwise. And princes need heirs, proper ones, not some dirty little bastard born of another bastard without a name to speak of."

"Ori!" Bilbo was rather shocked to hear him speak like that of himself. "Do you really think Fíli would care about things like that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Ori shook his head. "He never promised me anything other than a moment's comfort, anyway. I'd be silly to expect that he'd want anything more, or he would have said. And if he doesn't want that, well, then my child is an inconvenience at best and a liability at worst. I'm not some noble he might marry, and my family's claim to Durin's line is illegitimate to begin with."

"Fíli isn't like that, though! I've seen the way he speaks with you and acts around you. He cares about you, that much is clear."

"And perhaps he does. I'd like to think so, at least, I think he's a good dwarf. But it's one thing to care about a moment's company on the road and quite another to propose courtship and marriage when he stands first in line of the greatest kingdom our race still has claim to."

"And what then? Are you just afraid he would deny any claim to your child?"

"I'm afraid he would decide things would be simpler without a child on the way at all."

Bilbo felt cold. There were a few ways he could take that, but none of them were particularly pleasant. "You… you think that's a possibility?"

"I'm not sure. But it's not a risk I'm willing to take with the life of my child." Ori shook his head. "These things have happened before, nobles having children born from common lovers. Very rarely does it end well for the child or the bearer."

"Right." Bilbo swallowed and nodded. "And that's why you're returning to Ered Luin? So Fíli won't know about this?"

"Exactly." Ori sighed, running a hand over his hair. "I was thinking I'd show up in mourning braids, claim that the child's father died in the battle, and raise them on my own for a few years. I took along more than enough gold that I don't have to worry about making a living. Maybe in time I can return to Erebor and claim the child is younger than they are, or my brothers might join me in Ered Luin, I don't know."

"You don't have any family left in Ered Luin?"

"Oh, no." Ori shook his head. "I don't even know my father, none of us does, and our mother is long gone. There's nothing left in Ered Luin, except perhaps some safety I might find."

"Oh, I can't allow that." Bilbo shook his head. "It's bad enough that you're leaving your brothers behind, but that you'd try to have and raise a child without any help? No, I'm sorry, I can't let that happen."

"I can get help as I need, I have the gold." Ori frowned. "And it's not like I have much of a choice. I'm not returning to Erebor, not now, and everywhere else the situation is the same. At least in Ered Luin I'll know the place, and nobody will pay me too much attention."

"After they get word of the end of Smaug? Oh, I don't think you'll get by unnoticed, not by anyone who knows you were one of those who left. It only takes one neighbour who starts the rumour." Oh, Bilbo knew well enough how rumours moved once they got started. "At worst they'll bring word about your child with them when they start returning to Erebor, and Fíli will hear of it; there's no way you can pass it off as anything else then."

"But what else am I going to do?" Ori sounded so lost, so very alone, that Bilbo's heart ached for the lad. And, well, even if that hadn't been the case, there was really only one thing he could do, here.

"Come with me." As Ori glanced at him, startled, Bilbo shrugged. "I've more than enough room in my smial for a dwarf or two, and I'm not exactly poor, so it's not like you'll be a burden or anything. And, well, I rather find that the thought of returning to an empty home after so long in loud company seems rather daunting at times. We're both peaceful enough creatures that I'm sure we can live around each other. And if you get bored even with the child to look after, well, there's plenty of work in the Shire for someone with a neat hand and a talent for drawing, the wealthier families will pay nicely for books and stories."

"But what of the child? I can't have it on my own, and I hardly think hobbit midwives would know much about how to assist me with the birth."

"And? Ered Luin is close enough, you know that. We'll send for someone from there, there are dwarves travelling around Bree often enough. I'll just leave word at the inn while we're passing through and the message will get there soon. It's much easier to trust in the discretion of one midwife than the entire mountain."

"And you wouldn't get sick of living with me all the time?"

"As I said, I think I might rather like the company, and you're quiet enough most of the time. You can keep me company, I can help with the child where I can, and I'm sure it'll be much better for both of us than for me to sit alone in my armchair staring at the fire and for you to try to raise your child all on your own."

"Ah. If you don't think it'd be too much of a bother." Ori blinked rapidly, and for a terrifying moment Bilbo was sure he'd start crying. "I… thank you, Bilbo."

"No need to thank me." Bilbo patted the poor lad's shoulder. "I may be irritable at times, but I'm not altogether heartless, you know. And if at some point you decide you'd rather not live with me after all, well, I'm sure we can find you a little place somewhere in Hobbiton, near enough to visit. But not on my account!" he hurried to say before Ori got quite the wrong idea. "If I've lived through a trek all the way to the Lonely Mountain with thirteen dwarves and the occasional wizard, I can live with one dwarf and a dwarfling. And in any case, it's rather too early to worry about what might happen." He shook his head. "Consider yourself invited for an indefinite period of time. Both you and your child are free to stay as long as you'd like."

"You're sure that'll be all right?"

"Well, there's sure to be some gossip and scandal, but then, there's enough of that just because I traipsed off with you lot. Might just as well give the old biddies something to actually wag their tongues about." He smirked a bit. "Besides, I rather enjoy the thought of Lobelia's face as she thinks of a dwarf walking around Bag End when she can't get her claws on it."

Ori laughed at the thought, and if the laugh was slightly watery in sound, well, Bilbo wasn't going to point it out if Ori didn't.

"So, then." He stood up, offering a hand to Ori. "You said you might ask the elves to confirm your suspicions, didn't you? Let's get that done right away before we get too far in our plans. Best make sure you're nice and healthy, anyway, for the babe's sake as well."

He was quite sure this was the first time Elrond's healers had been asked to diagnose a dwarven pregnancy, but they did so with enough calm that he wasn't too worried the poor lad might have a fit. A child there indeed was, and both the child and Ori were as healthy as one might expect after so long on the road. Lord Elrond offered his congratulations and the help of a healer among the elves who saw them further from Rivendell. Then there was more road and a troll hoard and a quick talk with a dwarven smith in Bree, and at the end of it Bilbo, Ori and Gandalf arrived just in time to stop all his possessions being carted off to every corner of Hobbiton.

Standing in the middle of his poor empty smial, looking around at the bare walls and floors, Bilbo wasn't entirely sure he'd come home at all.

Then he heard Ori walking in after him, turned around to find the dwarf looking around with an uncertain expression and a hand on his already slightly rounded belly, and decided that a home it would have to be.

*

"You know they are all talking about you, don't you?"

Bilbo didn't bother to look up from lighting his pipe, knowing precisely who was standing at his gate, the usual look of disapproval twisting her features. "I'd be quite surprised if they didn't." He rather suspected Lobelia was the worst of them, always had been, but then unlike her he was too polite to say it to her face. Not unless she annoyed him some more.

"It's just not right, any of it." As Bilbo finally looked up at her, she shook her head with a sneer on her face. "First you run off with the dwarves, and then you come back with one, unwed and all and expecting a child! You're dragging the Baggins name through the mud, it's just shameful!"

"Yes, and trying to declare me dead and sell off all my possessions wasn't shameful at all, I'm sure." For all that half of Hobbiton had been going along with it, now that the situation had been cleared up quite a few were murmuring about how unsightly such greediness has been and how could they have given Bilbo up for dead so very easily. It was almost amusing, seeing Lobelia plagued by such murmurs, and, well. She and others like her had quite brought it upon themselves.

"Well! It's not like we could know that you would come back! Going off on an adventure, he says, of course we had no reason to expect you to ever return! Dreadful things, adventures, not something a sensible hobbit would ever go on."

"Never claimed to be sensible that I can recall." Bilbo took a long puff off his pipe, blowing a smoke ring up to the sky before turning his attention back to Lobelia. "And I've told you before, Ori is in mourning for his love. The child is not mine, but I will help him care for it, and if any of you say a bad thing about my helping a friend, well, then I cannot truly help you, but I think we all know who is the proper hobbit in that case."

"And you still insist on keeping up that charade?" Lobelia sniffed. "You probably think you're all clever, but we've heard things of dwarves and their dams. One can't tell them apart, but this one is with child, clearly she's female or I am a billy goat!"

Bilbo rather suspected Lobelia had never heard a word of dwarves until these rumours started to take up speed, or certainly hadn't paid any attention to such information when there was no way it could benefit them, but then again it wasn't like she was going to admit that even if he said so. "I'd think you'd be careful about what you claim to be true," he said. "Really, having everyone think that Ori's child is mine is the last thing you would want."

Lobelia stiffened. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Why, if it's my child, then clearly it's my heir as well, and Bag End will be lost to your greedy hands forever." Not that he would ever let it fall into her claws anyway, not if he had any say in it, but some part of her still seemed to hold onto some mad hope that if only she managed to convince him that he wasn't being hobbitish enough, he would see the sense in giving up his childhood home for her husband's benefit.

"You couldn't do that!" Lobelia straightened up, her eyes blazing. "Not — not to a dwarf! They don't even know how to care for a smial, filthy creatures that they are! Mucking up everything with their dirty boots, probably sticking axes to the walls!"

Bilbo decided not to tell her how close to the truth this was, and instead shook his head. "I'll thank you not to speak so badly of my friend, Lobelia. And I assure you, even though the child is not mine, Ori and his child will have Bag End long before any Sackville-Baggins even dreams of walking through my home as an owner."

"What have they done to you?" She was almost screeching now, indignant as she was. "Clearly you've been put under a spell or something! That's the only way you would act this — this much like not a hobbit!"

"Really, Lobelia, you ought to calm down a bit. That's just not the way to talk to a dear cousin of yours." Bilbo smirked a bit. "I've been under no spell or charm, I assure you, save what nobody can escape. Ori is not my lover, for like him, I left the dwarf I loved behind on the battlefield." It was close enough to the truth, anyway. And it wasn't like Lobelia could call him out on his lie.

"So you were charmed by them!" Did she really have to sound so triumphant, as though this would mean anything to her benefit? "That's why you're fostering him if it's not even your child!"

"Why, I thought just a moment ago you were determined that this was indeed my child and I was only lying to conceal the fact?" Bilbo snorted. "Try and accept that Bag End won't be yours, Lobelia, we'll both live happier lives for it in the end. Your dear husband should be able to feed and house you without the help of my inheritance, surely. In the meantime I'm actually quite happy to be the talk of town for such reasons, it's much more pleasant than having everyone wonder just what was wrong with me, living alone like that." And that was the funny part, wasn't it. It seemed the sharp tongues of Hobbiton were much quicker to accept the idea that he'd be living in sin with his dwarven lover than that he would actually be a bachelor by choice.

"Either way, you're a disgrace to the good Baggins name, and no mistake!" Lobelia sniffed as primly as she could, caught in her own indignation as she was. "I'll see you driven from here in shame, Bilbo Baggins, you just wait and see!"

"Oh, I don't think that'll happen any time soon. I've never broken a law, after all, and scandalous or not, I rather doubt the good Thain would see me driven from my home simply because I've chosen to open it to a friend." Bilbo stood up from where he had been sitting, stretching himself. Clearly he would not be enjoying his pipe in peace here. "You might prepare your friends for more scandal, in any case. I've received word to expect another dwarf to move in with us soon, though they won't be staying as long as Ori is."

"What? One of them is not enough for you?" Lobelia's expression was a mixture of disgust and unholy glee at whatever scenarios she was already inventing in her head.

"Oh, this is quite the different matter. You see, Ori will be needing a midwife, and while I'm sure the good ladies of Hobbiton are quite talented in that respect, he would still prefer a dwarven one. All kinds of dwarven traditions and all, you understand, and besides I doubt any hobbit has ever assisted in a male birth, as it happens."

"Oh, this is just unbearable!" Lobelia stepped away from the gate at last as though Bilbo had struck her. "I'll make sure everyone knows about this, just you see if I won't!"

"I'm quite sure you will, yes. Good day!" With this, he turned and walked up the steps to his door. The previously rather nice day had become significantly less so by Lobelia's sudden appearance.

"Bilbo?" Ori called out as he heard the door close behind him. "I didn't expect you back inside so soon."

"Yes, well, Lobelia happened." Bilbo sighed, shaking his head. "That one will not give up, it seems. Still running about Hobbiton spreading her ideas in the silly hope that doing so will net her Bag End by some miracle."

"I'm sorry to be causing you so much trouble." Ori stepped out of the door of the room that served as both his bedroom and the nursery, where he had no doubt been fussing over one detail or another that was absolutely necessary for the child. Not that Bilbo understood what it could be missing still aside from a nice crib and the baby itself, after all the fussing they'd already done over it, but it seemed to calm Ori down to be doing something, so he wasn't about to argue. He'd heard enough of hobbit husbands chuckling about their wives nesting, anyway, to know that this wasn't exactly a singular case. "If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't be bothering you."

"It's clear enough you don't know Lobelia at all, and certainly not the way tongues in Hobbiton will wag at the slightest opportunity." Bilbo snorted, walking further down the hallway. "Even if I hadn't brought you with me, trust me, I would have been the talk of town for several years. We can't quite let go of a good scandal, us hobbits, not until there is a better one to replace it, and there hardly is any better than a previously respectable hobbit running off on an adventure. It's not proper, you see, going anywhere further than a walking holiday and such."

"That's not right, though." Ori frowned. "You should be able to do what you want."

"We all should, but it's not so. Don't try to tell me dwarves don't ever indulge in malicious gossip." And that was a low blow, Bilbo knew it as soon as the words left his mouth, had it confirmed as Ori lowered his eyes and set a hand on his already rounded stomach. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ori. You know I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, I know. And it's all right, really." Ori offered him a faint smile. "It's much better here than it would be in the mountain, anyway."

"Is it, really?" Bilbo frowned. He hadn't thought to ask before, though clearly he should have, and now Lobelia's latest attempt at vexing him had got him thinking. "They aren't treating you badly or anything, are they? Out at town, that is." He knew nobody was quite rude enough to say awful things to Ori's face when he was out with Bilbo, but lately he'd been gaining the courage to go out on his own as well, and Bilbo couldn't help but fear that the likes of Lobelia might give him a hard time for no good reason at all.

"Oh, no, not at all!" Ori looked so surprised that Bilbo had to believe he was being truthful. "Well, there's Miss Lobelia and a couple of the others you've told me are trouble, but even they don't do much more than give me nasty looks and murmur to themselves. They did try to ask me some awful questions once when I went down to the market, but the other hobbits there told them to leave me in peace. That nice cousin of yours, Drogo I think, told Lobelia to try growing a beard herself because it might improve her appearance."

"Oh! Oh, my!" Bilbo couldn't help but chuckle. "Lobelia must have been terrible that day, Drogo's too much of a Baggins to say such things without some serious provocation."

"She, ah." Ori wet his lips nervously, rubbing his belly again. "She said it's no wonder the father wouldn't acknowledge the child, what with my being too ugly for a hobbit and too useless for a dwarf. And of course she thought she was talking about you, but I got upset anyway, and Drogo must have seen that."

"I see." Bilbo frowned and bit at his pipe stem, now, distantly wishing he had been much more impolite with Lobelia just now. Ah well, there was always the next time. "But others have been nice to you?"

"Yes, they have. I've talked with quite a few hobbits, actually, almost everyone seems very excited about the child, I've gotten a lot of advice from everyone." Ori shook his head. "It's kind of unbelievable how many children some of them have! I told one of them I was kind of nervous about being a good parent, and she told me not to worry, I'd figure it out by the fifth one!"

"Yes, well, it does seem to be the main talent us hobbits have." Probably best not to mention just yet that five was considered quite an ordinary number of children for hobbits, and only children like Bilbo were very much the exception. "Though I imagine most of them still think you are female. In that respect, at least, you dwarves have skill we hobbits lack."

"It's not like it's about anything I've done, though, so I'd hardly call it a skill." Ori blinked, then flushed a little. "Ah! Well, I suppose it has to do with what I've done, but —"

"Stop right there," Bilbo hasted to interrupt. "You are a dear friend, Ori, and I rather counted Fíli as one, but there are things I do not need to hear."

"Right. Sorry." Ori still looked flushed, but he gathered himself quickly. "Ah. I was wondering, actually, if you knew where I could get some nice yarn? For baby clothes, that is. And fabric, too, but the babe's going to be born in the autumn, I'll need warm things too. I tried looking at the market but there wasn't very much available."

"Ah, right. We mostly tend to get our fabrics when there's a big market day, or if someone's travelling to Bree. We could go there if you want, or just wait; there's sure to be big markets before the baby arrives."

"Oh, it's not like there's any hurry. It's just, I'd like something to do with my hands." Ori looked almost sheepish, now. "It's a dwarven thing, I suppose. We don't deal well with idle hands, and while I like my writing and drawing well enough, I still have that feeling that I should be crafting something instead."

"Well, in any case, I'll ask Hamfast where his mother gets her yarn, I know she knits for her children. Or if you don't mind a bit of spinning, I know a few of the farmers keep goats or sheep, rabbits even if that's what you prefer." He was almost sorry that he couldn't offer an answer right away, but then, he'd never been one for such crafts, himself.

"If you could ask, that would be nice, though I can spin if I need to. I'd have to get a spindle, though, or just make one." Ori looked a bit thoughtful, now. "You know, I've never actually had to think of what I'd rather use. Most of my life I've been lucky if there's been coin for any wool at all that isn't unravelled from something that's gotten too small, I'm really not used to the thought of buying what I want."

"Well, you'd better get used to it. That bag of gold you brought isn't going to empty any time soon, even when we pay the midwife to stay here for a month or two to make sure she's here when you need her, and even if that and my troll chest both ran out I'm still a rather wealthy hobbit, as these things go in the Shire. No, don't say anything," he added as Ori seemed about to speak. "It's my money, and if I want to use it on you or your child, that's my choice. I know you have your own, and I know just how much of it you still have claim to back in Erebor, but I promise I won't become poor anytime soon even if we don't keep very close track of which chest a particular purchase is paid for."

"Right. You're right, of course." Ori shook his head. "I'm sorry. Again, I'm not used to having my own money, and Dori has always been very particular about not accepting charity if only we can avoid it."

"This isn't charity, though, this is all about helping a friend, surely." Bilbo nodded sagely. "Now, I thought I'd have a look and see if Lobelia's gone. If she's not there, what would you say to a nice walk to the market? We could ask around for your wool, and maybe we'll see old Mudroot or his wife at least. As I recall you're still lacking a crib, and you won't find a better woodworker in all of Shire or even Bree, for all that he might not come close to dwarven skill."

"That would be nice, I think." Ori smiled, now, and that was a good thing to see. "We could pick up some things for the pantry, too. I know we're stocked on necessities, but I was thinking we could make a meat pie tomorrow, and we'll need to get some ingredients for that."

"Only if you let me put in some vegetables, too, not just meat and potatoes. Now, don't look like that," he chuckled as Ori made a face at the idea. "Nothing green or terrible, just some carrots and onions and the like. It'll make it even better, and it's good for the baby, you know."

"If you insist." Ori sighed. "I'm still not sure you aren't just teasing me with that, though."

"Poppycock. I may not have ever had a child, but I've known plenty of people who have, and they all insist that vegetables are important for a healthy baby." Bilbo turned to head over to the window, peeking out. There was no sign of Lobelia lingering nearby, so he nodded at Ori, signalling that the coast was clear for the moment.

"For a hobbit baby, perhaps, but this baby is going to be a dwarfling. You don't know if that's true at all."

"Well, it's certainly not going to hurt it either way, and wouldn't you rather do everything you can?" Bilbo clicked his tongue. "I'll teach you to like vegetables yet, even if I'm not so sure I'll ever convince you of the benefits of green things. More for me, I suppose."

"I'll let you keep them all, don't you worry." Ori wrinkled his nose, and Bilbo almost laughed at that. It was a good day in all, he decided, even with the annoyance of dealing with Lobelia. Aside from her, the weather was good, Ori seemed in relatively high spirits, and if the worst thing bothering them were the gossip-mongers of Hobbiton, well, it wasn't like Bilbo hadn't dealt with such murmurs more than enough before his journey. An unmarried gentlehobbit of his age and means was always going to attract whispers of one sort or another, and at least now he didn't have to come home in a huff and mull over such nonsense all on his own. Ori was good company, balancing Bilbo's occasional sour moods with his calm, and if Bilbo could return the favour by cheering him up when he was feeling down, well, that was what friends did, after all.

And if someone wanted to whisper about how Bilbo had lost his heart to a dwarf somewhere during his grand adventure in the foreign parts, well, at least that bit was true, after all.

*

Bilbo had never thought he'd actually end up sitting out in the garden with nothing to do, going through pipe after pipe as he waited for news from inside the smial he'd been exiled from, being of the male persuasion and thus unwelcome at this time. It had always been something that happened to other people, certainly never to him, not since the day he had figured he had little care to make the closer acquaintance of any of the eligible bachelorettes in the Shire. For all the unlikelihood of this, though, that was exactly the spot he found himself in on a thankfully clear autumn day. Passers-by nodded at him, some smiling or offering some words of encouragement that Bilbo tried his best to take in the spirit they were meant, though many still insisted on the delusion that Bilbo was the expectant father and not just a helpful friend.

A couple of the neighbourhood ladies came by when his wait seemed to be dragging on, casting furtive glances at the door as they brought him some food to pass his time and asking if something had gone wrong for things to take so long. Bilbo couldn't offer them much information, only assured them he was sure the midwives would have told him if something was amiss, besides from what he heard dwarves had a harder time of it than hobbit lasses, not that he knew anything of the particulars of course. They seemed doubtful at his reassurances but accepted them all the same, reminding him he'd better send word out once something happened, though perhaps best wait until the morning if it got to a very late hour. He told them he'd do so indeed, and thanked them for the food and their care, then packed his pipe once again when nothing seemed to be happening inside. He'd thought of visiting the neighbours himself, perhaps, to pass the time, but then he had no idea how long this whole thing was expected to last, and for all that the child might not have been his he did want to be there when it was born. Ori was sure to need a friend with him, particularly after what Bilbo vaguely suspected was going to be quite the ordeal.

The dwarven midwife had first visited them as soon as she had received Bilbo's message, faithfully passed on by the dwarven smith he'd found in Bree on their return journey. She had examined Ori and confirmed his thoughts on how far the pregnancy was — and Bilbo was just not going to think of what exactly Ori was counting back to, thank you very much, particularly since the time indicated seemed to hint toward the Elvenking's dungeons or possibly Laketown, and that was just all too bleak for him to contemplate even without the added mortification of thinking about the particulars — and had then announced, quite without asking for their input, that she would be returning a month before the child was due and stay with them so she would not miss the birth and leave Ori without aid. Not that either Bilbo or Ori disagreed, of course; it seemed rather the sensible approach, and it wasn't like they couldn't afford her fees for taking up so much of her time. Bilbo would have done much more than have a strange dwarf take up one of his spare rooms for a month to see Ori's child born safe and sound.

As it was, it was a good thing they had been prepared, as the child seemed as eager to be on time as its golden-haired sire and decided to join them almost two weeks before any of them had expected. The midwife assured Bilbo that this was quite ordinary, babies never came entirely on schedule and two weeks wasn't that early at all when one carried for almost a year anyway, and in any case with the male dwarves there was always a bit of a guesswork involved. Then Bilbo had been quite summarily exiled from his own home as unnecessary to the process at hand, and while he was somewhat taken aback to find himself considered so useless, a small part of him was quite thankful that he wasn't expected to take part.

It had been quite early in his wait when old Granny Riverside arrived, giving him little more than a nod and a "good day" before breezing past him and up the stairs into the house. Granny Riverside was the kind of old lady every village had, the one everyone called Granny regardless of their actual relation or lack thereof to her. Of course, given the size of her brood and her advanced age, a rather large part of the populace of this side of Hobbiton could indeed claim relation to her through either blood or marriage, but such unimportant facts had never stopped her from offering either a stern scolding or gentle advice to someone in need of either. She was also known for having an extraordinary talent for showing up at the door of anyone in need of a midwife without having to be summoned first. Some said it was some sort of a preternatural instinct, others claimed she just made a habit of lurking around the house of anyone in an advanced state of pregnancy on her side of Hobbiton. Bilbo, having heard stories about her all his life, had come to the conclusion that either story was just as likely and neither necessarily cast out the other as a possibility.

Whatever the truth of her skill was, he figured it was up to Ori and his first helper to decide whether she should be taking part, so when she wasn't chased out in short order Bilbo decided her aid had probably been welcomed and his snooping about would not. At least it meant there was one of them free to come tell him the news, whatever they were, while another remained with Ori at all times. All in all, it was a good arrangement as far as he was concerned.

Now, if only there had been any news to tell.

It wasn't until autumn dark had already enveloped Hobbiton and hunger had started to gnaw at his stomach all over again, almost enough that he contemplated venturing out to one of the neighbours and enquiring about the possibility of borrowing a snack while his smial remained unavailable to him, that the door was pushed open, spilling light out into the garden. Bilbo turned to watch as a plump little figure walked down the steps, coming to a halt at the side of the bench.

"Took a bit of time, but I think we're done here. Don't rush in just yet, though, should let the poor dear get cleaned up first and such."

"Right. Thank you for telling me." The relief that ran through him was almost overwhelming. Of course he'd kept telling himself that they would have notified him if anything was wrong, just the same as he'd told the neighbours, but the mystery of it all had still kept him guessing. "I won't rush in just yet, then."

"So." Granny Riverside sat down next to him, stuffing her pipe with quick fingers. "That's certainly a dwarven child, that is."

"Of course it is." As he had been telling everyone all this time. Only now he could actually trust people to believe it, not because there was the proof of a child who didn't look the slightest bit hobbitish, but because Granny Waterside was sure to get the word out.

"And a very male dwarf birthing it, too." She refused his offer of a light, lighting a match off the side of the bench instead. "I'd heard dwarves were strange like that, but never thought I'd see the evidence for myself."

"I don't think Ori would appreciate his private matters being spread around."

"Oh, no! You won't hear me say a word about that, no. It's not something to be spread about, it's not, though I suppose if anyone asks I'll tell them he's a lad, just like you've said." And the thing was, he more or less believed her. He had heard her spread a lot of gossip, but never anything that might have been embarrassing about one of her clients. It just wouldn't have been proper, he supposed. "All I'm going to tell people besides that is what a pretty little girl he has, for all that her feet are awfully small and without a single curl."

"Right." Bilbo drew a puff of his own pipe. "So, ah. I imagine you'd like to discuss your fee?" Not like he had any idea what a hobbit midwife charged for her work. He'd never had cause to hire the services of one before.

"Nonsense!" She scoffed, drawing smoke from her pipe as though it had personally offended her, then blowing out a rather perfect smoke ring. "You never asked for my help, and I dare say might have been fine without; that dwarf you got did a good enough job for someone who must not get nearly enough practice. No, I was here out of professional curiosity, you might say, and that has been rather thoroughly satisfied."

"Well. If you are sure about that, then." Bilbo wasn't entirely sure if she meant that or if he was supposed to insist anyway out of politeness. Quite frankly, he didn't care much, not right now. His nerves were quite rattled over all the waiting and fretting, thank you, and he wasn't feeling up to being polite for the sake of politeness just yet.

"Quite so." Another deep pull and an even larger smoke ring, and then she was standing up again, smoothing her skirts down with one hand. She had been wearing an apron when she arrived, Bilbo remembered in something of a daze, one that was now tied up in a ball at her side. Probably not quite clean enough to wear right now. "So. I'll send one of the young ones by with a pie some time tomorrow, got to have a pie with a new little one in the house. Is meat pie all right with your dwarf? My Marigold makes a brilliant pork pie, quite excellent for getting your strength back up, I imagine he'll be needing that."

"I'm sure Ori would like that very much." Bilbo would count himself lucky if there was any left for him, not that he was the one truly in need of strengthening, anyway. It was a pity, though. Everyone in Hobbiton knew of Marigold's indeed brilliant pork pies, though not everyone had been lucky enough to be granted a taste. "Ah. Thank you for coming by."

"Anytime, my boy. Now, you just take good care of those two, you hear?" She shook her pipe at him in an admonishing gesture. "It's awful for a young thing like that to be left alone, and with a child no less. He'll certainly need a friend at his side, and you seem to have taken up the job. I'd hate to see for a proper gentlehobbit like you to back down from his responsibilities." Or else, seemed to hang unsaid in the air between them.

"Of course." Even if he'd needed some encouragement to fulfil such duties, which was certainly not the case, he knew better than to try and cross her. He might have faced orcs and wargs and a dragon as well, but those had all been slain, and it wouldn't have done to go around slaying old hobbit ladies, even if he had no doubt Granny Riverside would have been quite capable of making his life exceedingly difficult, more so than Lobelia could have ever dreamed of. "Well, then. Thank you for your aid, and a good evening to you."

"Good evening, Mister Baggins." Then she was gone, disappearing into the shadows with her pipe and apron and all. Bilbo looked after her for a moment, then took a puff of his own pipe. It was about to die soon, but then, it had more than done its part today.

He waited another moment, and even stopped by a couple of the closest neighbours to pass the news of Ori's daughter, figuring it wasn't yet too impolite an hour for a quick word or two, especially on such a matter. At last he made his way back toward Bag End, pausing at the door. Then, realising the ridiculousness of hesitating at his own door, he opened it just a little and called out. "Am I allowed in yet?"

There was a shout that sounded like approval from the direction of Ori's room, so he went inside and closed the door after himself. He paused again at the door to the room, knocking and waiting for an answer before getting inside.

He wasn't entirely sure what he had expected, but what he got in any case was more or less the room he'd seen before being ushered out. There were fresh sheets on the bed, and a big laundry bag in the corner that he suspected he'd have to pay his usual laundress rather handsomely for handling, but certainly there was little evidence of the carnage he had imagined in his most worried moments. The midwife — Savi, that was her name — was fussing over the crib, while Ori lay in the larger bed, looking utterly exhausted but happy. There was, Bilbo noted, a small bundle in his arms.

"Well. I understand congratulations are in order." Bilbo couldn't help a smile as he walked closer. "Granny Riverside said you have a girl."

"I do." Ori sounded wondering, like he could hardly believe what had happened. "A daughter, Bilbo. I have a daughter!"

"It's a blessing to be sure, to have a daughter for his first," Savi said, nodding from where she was arranging the covers in the crib, folding them back to be ready for the child. "I was a bit worried, children born outside a mountain can be sickly at times, but it's been a while since I saw such a nice and healthy baby girl. You've certainly been feeding him well, that's for sure."

"It's the one thing I know how to do, figured I'd do my best at it." Bilbo came up to the bed, getting a closer look at the baby. She seemed a strange colour, but he trusted they would have told him if that was a bad thing, and certainly not called her healthy. There were a few strands of hair on her head, and a couple more stuck on the sides of her chin, each one almost golden in colour instead of Ori's darker reddish strands. She was perhaps an hour old, and already Fíli was showing through. "Does she have a name yet?"

"I'm calling her Nuoli." Ori smiled down at the child. "For Nori, and our mother Vuori." Bilbo didn't ask why he wouldn't have used the customary 'Ri at the end, then. He knew perfectly well that the end came from her father, just as he knew neither of them was about to mention that in front of Savi, however trustworthy she might have been.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful baby." Bilbo nodded. "Ah. Do you need me to get you anything? I was thinking of making myself some supper, if you would you like some?"

"Thank you, but all I want right now is some sleep." Ori did look rather wrung out.

"Right." Bilbo nodded. "Well, I'll make something that you can eat cold and bring it by just in case you wake up peckish later, all right? If feeding you is the only thing I can do, then I'm going to do it right, mark my words."

"You've helped me in so many more ways than that." Ori reached out to him, grasping Bilbo's hand in his own. "Bilbo… thank you, for everything. I thought I could do this alone, but right now… it's hard for me to imagine getting this far on my own."

"Oh, you would have." And now he was making Bilbo feel all embarrassed, which was clearly ridiculous. "You're stronger than you think, Ori, in more ways than you might imagine. You will raise a wonderful daughter, all on your own if needs must, but I'll also be here as long as you need me." Or as long as time allowed him, anyway. From what he understood of dwarven lives, he might well be dead and buried by the time Nuoli reached adulthood.

Well, wasn't that a maudlin thought. Clearly he needed a nice supper and plenty of sleep to cheer him up.

"Again, thank you." Ori smiled, then yawned, not resisting as Savi took the child from him and set her in the crib, though Bilbo noticed he didn't relax entirely until the crib had been moved right next to the bed. "Good night, Bilbo."

"Good night." With this, Bilbo left the room and headed for the kitchen, leaving Savi fussing over some last details that he was certain were terribly important.

Of course, the arrival of the child was by no means the end of it all, he mused to himself as he fussed about in the kitchen. This was only where their new little adventure began, one filled with cries and pudgy cheeks and teeny tiny toes.

If he was humming a little tune while he fixed himself supper, well, the only one who might have heard it was Savi finally returning to her own room.

*

Nuoli was, in Bilbo's not at all biased opinion, the most beautiful little dwarfling there had ever been.

Of course, she was the only dwarfling he had ever actually seen, but he felt that didn't truly retract from the strength of his conviction. Nuoli really was quite the adorable child now that she had more or less recovered from the ordeal of being born, with wide blue eyes and soft golden hair and a little nose that seemed to be showing signs it would grow to resemble Fíli's one day, which Bilbo didn't think was a bad fate at all for a child. Of course, when he mentioned this to Ori, his friend laughed and told him the Durin nose was considered somewhat homely among dwarves, who preferred their sniffers on the larger side, though he did agree with Bilbo that Nuoli was indeed the best little baby this side of the Misty Mountains.

It wasn't just misplaced pride speaking, either, given that other hobbits found her quite fascinating, too, hairless feet and all. Well, those who did not seem to find the hint of a beard on her round little face to be a moral failing did, at least, but then Bilbo wasn't about to allow Lobelia and her ilk into his house anytime soon. She hadn't really tried to force her way inside anyway, lately, not with Ori there, though she did make up for it by making a habit of pausing by Bilbo's gate quite often just to make some nasty comment or another. Bilbo ignored her, though, and so did most of Hobbiton, as it seemed. Oh, they still enjoyed their gossip, as he suspected they always would, but now the tone of the rumours concerning Bilbo was leaning towards either sighing over his lost love or being gleefully scandalised over the same. It was hardly ideal when Bilbo would have been much happier to be ignored, but it was still much better than having them doubt his identity or sanity, or suggesting that he might refuse to acknowledge his own child.

The child who was not his was currently lying in Ori's arms, blinking sleepily up at her father as he hummed what Bilbo could only guess was a lullaby at her. The melody was soft and calming, and seemed to match Ori's attempts at rocking her, so he was just going to assume that was the case. He could hardly understand a word of the lyrics, so that wasn't much help.

"Is that Khuzdul?" He kept his voice low, not wanting to startle the baby. For all that she was indeed quite adorable, she could also be frightfully loud at times, and Bilbo was rather hoping for a quiet evening.

Ori nodded, not pausing his song. Figuring that an actual conversation would not happen just yet, Bilbo nodded in return, turning back to the book he had been reading.

It wasn't that much later that Ori fell silent, and as Bilbo glanced in their direction he found Ori smiling softly at his sleeping daughter. He waited another moment to be sure she was asleep, then continued, still speaking softly. "I thought Khuzdul was forbidden to outsiders?"

"Well, I'm not exactly teaching you, am I?" Ori chuckled. "Though I suppose I might do just that anyway, since I should already be speaking Khuzdul to her. I think it's unlikely you would tell on me, and it would be much easier to teach her Khuzdul if there were two of us speaking to her rather than just me."

"And you think that would be all right?"

"Well, you're basically family, aren't you?" The way Ori said that, casual and without a second thought, made something in Bilbo's chest clench. He still wasn't sure he'd earned such consideration. It must have shown on his face, because Ori frowned as he looked up from Nuoli's face. "And don't look like that. I can call you family if I want! Um, if you don't mind, that is."

"I don't mind, no. Just… I'm not sure I've earned such a title."

"You took me in when I had nobody else to turn to." Ori's voice was quiet now, still rocking Nuoli just a little in his arms. "You opened your home to my daughter and me, without asking for anything in return. That alone would be quite enough justification for me to adopt you as my brother. Well, assuming you agreed, and that we were in a mountain, since I'm pretty sure dwarven adoption wouldn't count here in the Shire."

"Probably not, no." Bilbo chuckled, shaking his head. "But then, I suppose if I do name you and Nuoli my heirs, it'll amount to much the same around here."

"If you what?" Ori blinked.

"I think you heard me perfectly well." Bilbo finally set his book aside, standing up from his armchair and stretching himself. "I'd rather not have my cousins arguing over my things when I'm gone, and I certainly don't want Lobelia getting her claws on everything. So, I figured that if you haven't left the Shire by the time I die, Nuoli and you should have it all. Would be right rude of me to leave you to your own devices just because I decided to die, after all, and I have it on good confidence you're going to live longer than me."

"Please don't speak of such things, Bilbo." Ori frowned. "You're not going to die!"

"Don't plan on doing so any time soon, no. And I'm rather hoping that by the time it comes to that, this whole mess will have been resolved and you'll be happy and safe back in Erebor. Not because you aren't welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, mind, but because I think you'd rather prefer being in a proper mountain, with your brothers and all."

"Well, for the time being, I suppose I'll just have to make do with one brother." Ori offered him a small smile, now, standing up as well. "And on that note, I really think I should get her to bed."

"Sounds like an excellent idea. Me, I'll get started on making us some supper. And I assume you'll be wanting tea?"

"Yes, please, if it's not too much trouble." Ori nodded, then turned to walk away with Nuoli, murmuring her about something that Bilbo was quite sure included the words "Uncle Bilbo".

Well. He supposed he could live with that, indeed he could. He'd been an only child his entire life, but he could do with a sweet quiet brother and an adorable little niece, even if it meant sometimes having to share his library. Yes, this arrangement was starting to seem like a splendid idea right about now.

Perhaps it was not a perfect happily ever after, certainly not the kind he might have dreamed of in his strangest daydreams on the road to Erebor, but he could settle for a content and peaceful life instead.

*

Kíli woke up.

This shouldn't have been a particularly noteworthy accomplishment, being something that most people did on a daily basis, except he had the vague feeling it had been a while since he'd managed this particular feat. He had some fleeting memories of being shaken awake at some point, but nothing concrete, certainly nothing that he would have called true wakefulness. The last thing he remembered with anything even remotely approaching clarity was the battle, shouts and clangs and the smell of blood and snow in the air, and then there had been Tauriel —

He tried to sit up, but his body wouldn't quite comply with his wishes. Instead he jerked up a bit, then immediately sank back into the bed with a pained groan. No, not happening just yet.

Wait. Bed. He didn't have a bed, not here, wasn't supposed to have one. Whatever might have been left in Erebor had long since fallen to ruin, and though some of the bed frames had been made from stone or metal and would have stood the test of years, they certainly hadn't found any decent mattresses in their explorations of the mountain. There was a mattress here, though, mattress and pillows and blankets over him, and while they didn't seem to be directly from the washing they didn't exactly smell musty and decaying either.

What had happened while he was asleep?

He tried to call out, but only managed to produce a small, pitiful croak. Sighing, he wet his lips and drew a deep breath before trying again. This time he was more successful, though only just. "Anyone there?"

There were sounds outside the door, and as he turned to look, the door was opened a little. A dwarf he didn't know peeked in, then immediately withdrew from sight, and there was more noise, speaking and shouting and hurried footsteps. Kíli considered calling out again, but then decided against it. Clearly they were aware that he was awake by now, so there was little he would accomplish besides exhausting himself.

He was rather hoping that the next one to arrive would be a familiar face, but he hadn't even dared to dream of the sight that greeted him as the door opened again, properly this time. Fíli stood in the doorway, except not quite. It was his brother, that was clear enough, standing tall and strong and apparently in good health, everything that Kíli didn't feel right now. However, Fíli was dressed in rich fabrics and jewels the likes of which Kíli hadn't seen on him before, save for the time they had been fooling about while rooting through the treasury of Erebor for the one jewel that gleamed even more than the rest.

He'd always known that Fíli was a prince, that they both were, that one day Fíli would take Thorin's place as the leader of their people. However, he had never before truly understood it on quite as deep a level as he did now, staring at his brother in all the richest finery dwarves could hope for.

"Kíli!" Fíli's face lit up as he met Kíli's gaze, and he rushed to the side of his bed, jewels and beads and all. His hair had more braids than before, too, and all his beads had been changed for richer ones with gemstones and precious metals. Kíli wondered if his hair clasp was still the same, the pair to his own.

"Fíli." Better stick to speaking a little at a time, still. His voice sounded horrible. "How… what happened?"

"There was a battle, you know, in case you missed that in all the fuss." Fíli turned to gesture something at the dwarves outside the doorway, then turned back to Kíli. The door was closed, leaving them in private. "You gave us quite a fright, you know. We were starting to fear you wouldn't wake up at all, sleeping on like you did. We'd sometimes get you up for long enough to get something down your throat so you didn't waste away entirely, but you never seemed coherent at all."

"How long?" He had a sinking feeling it was rather longer than he'd thought. He'd already suspected it had been a while, but the way Fíli spoke of it…

"Four months in all, almost five by now." Fíli gave him a grim smile. "I'm glad to see you're awake, at least, but at this point that's not enough on its own. The injuries you received have mostly healed by now, thank Mahal, but after so long in bed it'll take you a while to get back on your feet."

"What?" Surely he'd heard wrong. "That… how did that happen?"

"You've got your elf to blame for it. Or thank for it, I suppose." Fíli glanced over his shoulder at the door as though thinking someone might sneak in to listen in on their conversation. "Our healers almost gave you for a lost cause when you were carried in, you were so badly hurt. Even my demands couldn't convince them to do more than try to make you comfortable." Fíli's expression fell, the small smile that had been still playing at his lips vanishing entirely. "It was… not easy. We were sure Thorin would perish as well, and then you were even worse off. I was sure I'd be left all on my own."

"My elf?" That could only mean one thing. "Tauriel? She — she was here?"

"Oh, aye, and insisted on trying her hand at healing you. She wouldn't let you go, not that easily." Fíli shook his head. "You've got her to thank for your life, far as we can tell. Even her skills weren't enough to heal you right away, but she said she might make you sleep to allow your body to heal itself. We weren't so convinced, but what choice did we have? So, we let her try, and you slept. Only, by now even she'd started to wonder if it had been too much after all."

"I'm awake now." He did feel somewhat weak, but that was easily explained if indeed he had spent so long in bed. "Tauriel? Where is she?" Fíli had just said she'd started to fear for him as well, right? Which meant she had been around at least recently, still.

"Oh, she's in the mountain, still. Couldn't chase her away if we tried, not that anyone's been too inclined to try, not after what she did for you." Fíli's lips tugged back into the smile, and oh, that was good to see at last. "She's taken to sitting beside you during the night, she doesn't need as much sleep and all. It would be really very inappropriate if you hadn't been snoring on for so long."

"Tauriel." It was a breath more than a word now, all his careful wishes concentrated into a sigh. "She's here? Can you get her to come?"

"I'm sure she'll arrive soon enough." Fíli took his hand and squeezed, more gently than Kíli could recall him doing since they'd both been small enough to hide under tables without needing to crouch down. "As will plenty of others. We've all been waiting for you, you see."

"How are they, then?" He wet his lips again. "The others?"

"Oh, you're the last one we've been worried for." Fíli seemed to realise what he needed, standing up and crossing over to a small table that had a pitcher and a cup on it. There was chair next to it, Kíli noted, a comfortable one that looked like one might spend quite long whiles seated in it. Fíli poured a cup of water and brought it back to him, helping him drink from it as his hands shook just reaching for the mug. "Everyone in the Company lived through the battle, though as I said, Thorin and you both came close to not doing so. A few injuries here and there, but nothing major. Dwalin lost an eye but that just makes him even scarier than before, and Thorin still doesn't walk very well, he hurt his foot pretty bad, but other than that it's mostly just scars and thrilling stories at this point."

"Right." Kíli drank a little, not wanting to upset his stomach by drinking too much however much he might have wanted to. It helped him clear his throat, at least. "And what else happened?"

"What do you mean?" Fíli wouldn't quite meet his eye. Oh, please. As though they'd ever been able to lie to each other.

"Something's wrong, you never talk this much this fast unless you're trying to avoid saying something."

Fíli sighed. Well, at least he knew when he had lost. "Everyone's alive, or was the last time we heard." He shook his head. "However, that doesn't mean they're all still here."

"Oh?" That… didn't sound good. "What do you mean?"

"Bilbo and Ori left the mountain."

Kíli blinked. "What?" Surely he had heard wrong. "Left? To go where?"

"Back to the west. Bilbo wanted to go back to his little hobbit hole, I presume, and Ori spoke of returning to Ered Luin."

"And you let him?"

"It's not my place to stop him." Fíli looked rather insulted by the idea. And, yes, Kíli knew he wouldn't have done anything to harm Ori, and that included holding him against his will. But even so, this just wasn't right.

"Fine. So if it wasn't about you letting him, then his brothers did, at least." He shook his head. It was easier to speak now, though his voice still sounded terrible even in his own ears. "I know Dori and Nori well enough, and so do you. They wouldn't let Ori go just like that. Surely not on his own."

"You're right, of course. Which makes me think he had some reason for leaving, something that convinced his brothers he would be better off elsewhere." Fíli looked down at his hands, still holding the half-full cup of water. "That's why I decided not to try to convince him to stay."

"So, what? You think Ori was in danger in Erebor?" Because if that was true, they'd have to hunt down whoever posed such a threat. Well. Thorin and Fíli would have to hunt them down; Kíli wasn't sure he could get out of bed just yet, never mind go on warpath all over again.

"Worse." Fíli wouldn't quite meet his eyes. "I think that danger is me."

Kíli stared at his brother for a moment, half expecting him to laugh it off as a very bad joke, but Fíli just continued sitting there, looking guilty of all things. In the end, Kíli sighed. "Okay, now you're just being ridiculous. How exactly are you supposed to be a threat to Ori?"

Fíli kept his eyes fixed on the hands he holds in his lap. "It's not that far-fetched, really. Not considering, well. Considering Ori and me."

"Please. Even Dori and Nori wouldn't think you'd force yourself on him." Because that was the only way he could interpret those words, ridiculous though the mere idea was.

"Not knowingly, no. You know I'd never do that. But perhaps Ori hasn't been quite as willing as I thought he was."

"So, what? You think he lied about wanting you?"

"It's not impossible, is it? You know what our positions are, how different they are. He might well have thought that he should not tell me no, particularly when we were still on the road and they hadn't had their rewards yet. If he thought badly of me, he might have thought I would withhold their part from them if he rejected me, or convince Thorin to do so. Except now the quest is over, and they have earned their rewards, so he could escape from me and not worry that he might end up alone in the wilderness."

"Horseshit." Kíli shook his head vigorously, or as much so as he could manage, anyway. "I've seen the way Ori looks at you, remember. It's clear enough that he adores you just as much as you do him."

"Clearly not, if he left me like this."

"Well, what else was he supposed to do? Maybe he was escaping something, and didn't feel he could ask you to follow him. Maybe he only left as a test, to see if you'd try to stop him."

"He should know I wouldn't, not if he wanted to go." Fíli managed the head shake much better than Kíli had, for all that he didn't even try to do it with quite as much energy. "I did ask him to stay, but when he told me he couldn't, I didn't push. If — if he does want to get away from me — well, then trying to hold him back would only prove him right, now wouldn't it?"

"You're being ridiculous." Yet Kíli couldn't really argue against him, not if Fíli was determined to continue being stupid. At least he couldn't as long as he didn't know Ori's reason for leaving, though he was determined to find out.

Fíli opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but just then the door flew open and the most beautiful sight Kíli had ever laid eyes on appeared in the doorway. It was Tauriel, his Tauriel clad in the deep green of her forest though her clothes were now closer to a dwarven cut, a hopeful look on her face.

"Tauriel!" A wide smile appeared unbidden on his face. Oh, he'd missed her so! "You're here!"

"And you are awake, I see." She crossed the distance to the bed in a few long strides, and Fíli stood from his place without needing to be told. Tauriel sat on the edge of the bed, taking Kíli's hand in her own much like Fíli had done earlier. "You liked your dreams, I suppose."

"Can't remember any, so I couldn't tell." He gave her a smile that he was quite sure was utterly besotted, certainly judging by the gagging face Fíli made behind her shoulder. "But then, I rather think I'm dreaming again, to be seeing something so lovely."

"Oh, hush, you." There was a slight flush to her cheeks, but she was smiling, and that was all he had hoped to accomplish.

"So I hear I have you to thank. You know, for being alive and all."

"Your body healed itself. I only gave it the chance to do so." Tauriel squeezed his hand. "After all, I could hardly let you die before I managed to return your stone to you."

"Ah, right. My little promise." Kíli grinned. "Have you thought about it?"

Tauriel's smile grew just a little wider, and he was almost blinded by the brilliance of it. "Do you think I would have stayed in a dwarven mountain for so long if I hadn't?"

"So?" He tried not to be too hopeful, but she was here and smiling and holding his hand, and even Fíli was grinning now behind her, as though he was waiting for something good to happen. "What's your answer?"

"That depends on your question." And, oh, of course an elf would have to twist things around. "When you gave me your stone, you asked me to come with you."

"That I did." Would ask her again as many times as it took, if it came to that.

"And before that, you asked me another question." She squeezed his hand, her smile fading into a more solemn look. "Though I'm not sure if you recall, given that you were rather taken by pain at the time."

"Oh?" He frowned. He certainly didn't recall asking her much else, except perhaps in the Elvenking's dungeons, and surely he hadn't been too pained there. "What do you mean?"

"In Laketown, when I was healing you." Tauriel looked him right in the eye. "You asked if I might have loved you."

Kíli swallowed. Oh, he remembered that, remembered the glowing lady who had been more beautiful than anything in a mortal world ought to have been. "I thought that was a dream."

"Well, it wasn't, and you asked me a question." Tauriel paused, perhaps hesitated, before the smile crept onto her lips again. "I would give you my answer, if you would hear it."

Kíli drew as deep a breath as he could, steeling himself before he nodded. At least she wouldn't reject him too cruelly, he thought, surely not. Though he supposed there was only one way to find out. "I'm listening."

"There is no would or could about it, my dear dwarf." Slowly, Tauriel brought his hand up to her face, brushing her lips against it. "I do love you, as I never thought I could love someone. And if you asked me to go with you now, I would follow you wherever you wished."

"Well, I don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon, so that part at least is going to be easy." Kíli grinned broadly. "And if I told you I wanted to make beads for your hair as soon as I've the strength to do so?"

Tauriel looked confused for a moment, then glanced at Fíli. He grinned like the annoying brother that he was.

"Beads are only gifted within the family, or between closest of friends," he explained. "Particularly ones you've made instead of bought. For Kíli to offer to make you beads with his own hands is at least an offer of courtship, if not more."

"Oh!" Tauriel blinked, then smiled again. "In that case… I would be happy to wear your beads, my dwarf."

"Really?" He was rather afraid his grin was going to split his face if he didn't stop soon, but it wasn't like he could help it.

"Really." She smiled at him. "I suppose this means I should learn how to make hair beads, myself."

"You really know how to choose an elf, don't you?" Fíli snorted, then glanced towards the door as several sets of footsteps approached. "And I think that will be the rest of the Company, or at least those who can make it at the moment. I hope you're prepared for it."

Fíli wasn't wrong, as it turned out. It seemed every member of the Company who could leave their duties arrived in Kíli's room as soon as they got the message, even the most serious ones smiling and grinning and greeting him happily. Even Thorin arrived at last, as richly dressed as Fíli was, a crown on his head and the braids of a king in his hair. There was a tired look in his eyes, though, and more lines around his mouth than Kíli could recall. When his hand took Kíli's in turn, it shook, just a little.

There was no Ori, and Dori and Nori only stayed a little while. No Bilbo, either.

Thorin was the last one to remain besides Tauriel, who was helping Kíli eat the food a servant had brought in the middle of all the visits. He hadn't said much earlier, preferring to stay in the background, but now it seemed he was going to get his say at last.

"It's good to see you awake at last."

"It's good to be awake, I would say." Kíli obediently opened his mouth for another spoonful. He might have protested at such treatment, but he was still far too weak to actually eat by himself, barely able to lift his hands at all. The only way he could sit up was with the aid of several pillows that another servant had brought in.

"Now you can focus on getting stronger, I suppose." Thorin glanced at Tauriel, and to Kíli's surprise he didn't even sound grudging as he said, "Thank you. This is all your doing."

"I did what I could." Tauriel smiled, though, waiting for Kíli to swallow before offering up another spoonful. "He's the one who did the hard work, in any case."

"Even so, without you, he wouldn't have had the chance. For that, and for everything you have done for us, you have my gratitude." Thorin settled down into the chair as Tauriel continued feeding Kíli, seated on the edge of the bed for easier reach.

"It must be a rare occasion, for you to say such words to an elf." Tauriel didn't sound accusatory, though, merely making an observation. It was true enough, anyway; Thorin wasn't exactly in a hurry to heap praise on elves.

"I suppose it would be unlikely for each and every member of your race to be rotten to the core." And really, it was no wonder Bilbo had left such a charming dwarf behind.

"It would indeed." Tauriel seemed more amused than anything. Though then, from what Kíli had understood she had spent several months in the mountain already, so clearly she would be used to Thorin's antics already.

Thorin continued speaking, recounting everything that had happened in the mountain during Kíli's little nap, while Tauriel continued feeding him. Finally, as there was still something left in the bowl but Kíli felt as though he might burst if he ate any more, even though it had been little more than thin broth, Thorin actually asked him a question.

"So. What do you two plan to do?"

It was clear enough to Kíli what Thorin was asking, though he didn't much bother to elaborate. "Tauriel and I?" As Thorin nodded, he allowed himself to grin again. "I offered to make her beads. She accepted my offer."

Thorin lifted his eyebrows. "And does she know what that would signify?"

"Fíli explained to me that this would be considered an offer of courtship among your people." Tauriel looked at Kíli and answered his grin with a smile of her own. "Knowing this, I accepted it."

"I suppose that's clear enough, then." Thorin shook his head. "Your mother should be here before the end of the summer. I ask that you don't get married before she arrives, or she'll shave my beard and make me eat it. Other than that, well, do what you wish."

"Really?" Kíli hadn't exactly expected things to go that easily. "You don't object?"

"How could I? She saved your life, and from what I understand it was not the first time. Without her we would not have you at all, seems strange to start placing conditions on in what capacity she is allowed to be near you." Thorin snorted. "Don't marry before your mother arrives, and don't give birth before you marry. Beyond that, I don't really see how it might be my place to interfere."

"Wow. That's. Wow." Kíli blinked. "Thank you?" He hadn't meant for it to sound quite so much like a question.

"Don't thank me." Thorin stood up, now, straightening his clothes. He was dressed in heavy robes that rather made Kíli suspect he had hurried here directly from the royal court. "Seems only fair that at least one person in this family has some luck with their love."

"As opposed to you and Fíli, you mean." Thorin didn't reply, didn't look away, didn't even flinch. That alone told him more than any words could have. "So why did you let Bilbo go? Fíli's already given me his excuse for not chasing down Ori, and while I think it's stupid it's at least understandable. Think you can do better?"

"I tried to kill him." Well. That was a better argument than Fíli's little doubts, at least. "That is not something I can ask him to forgive. And if he did forgive me, then I would have to stay away to protect him from myself, as clearly he does not know his own best if he'll stand for such treatment."

"Right. Because I'm sure Bilbo would be happy to let someone else decide what's best for him."

"Not everyone's love is as simple as yours, Kíli. And yes, I do understand I just called a dwarf falling for an elf a simple matter." Thorin shook his head. "Get some rest. You have a lot of recovery to get to." With this and one last nod, Thorin left the room.

Tauriel looked after Thorin, then turned to look at Kíli. "So, you think that's it, then? He won't pursue him any further?"

"Oh, I'm pretty happy with how that went, actually." Kíli couldn't help but grin, though he had to admit he was growing tired by now. "You'll note that he never, at any point, denied the fact that he does love Bilbo."

"And?" Tauriel frowned. "Is this significant?"

"In as much as he never said it aloud to my knowledge before the battle, yes, I'd call it significant." Now, a yawn broke free, and he sank deeper into his pile of pillows. "That's good. That's something I can work with."

"And is it something you plan to do something about, then?"

"Oh, absolutely." Kíli offered her a tired grin. "After all, it would be quite unfair if I were the only one to find all this happiness, wouldn't it?"

"But of course." She gave him a fond smile, and really, it almost looked like she was amused with him, which clearly wasn't the correct reaction. "Now, try and get some sleep, my love. It will be a long time until you have fully recovered."

She was right enough, much to Kíli's dismay. It wasn't until around Durin's Day that Óin finally declared him more or less recovered, nearly a full year after the battle. By then it was clearly too late in the year for him to try heading west, the mountains impassable, and he had little choice but to remain in the mountain for the time being.

He headed out with the first spring thaw, though, saddling his pony at the first morning light, Tauriel preparing her own horse next to him. They were both dressed sensibly for the road, with plain clothes that would stand a lot of wear, though the marriage beads in Tauriel's hair were pure silver with shining gemstones. Thorin had frowned at them, asking why he would not give her gold, but Kíli had thought silver was better suited for her. Silver and diamonds, for his lady of the starlight.

"And where do you think you're going?" Kíli knew even without turning around what kind of an expression his mother was wearing when she used that tone. There would be a frown, and a hint of disapproval, all wrapped up in a kind of exasperated fondness.

"Oh, you know. Going to see a friend or two." He looked over his shoulder to throw a grin at her. She was standing not far from them, hands on her hips as she watched their preparations.

"And how long were you planning to stay?"

"Hm, I'd say that rather depends on a lot of things. Might be until next year, if the visit takes too long for us to make it back before the passes get snowed in." Kíli shrugged. "I'm taking along a raven, so I'll let you know how things go."

"See that you do." Dís walked closer. "And you aren't taking more people with you?"

"Are you saying my beautiful wife isn't enough company?" Kíli flashed Tauriel a grin, then looked at his mother again. "I'd imagine few people would like to come along even if we asked them to, and have to suffer us being sappy all day long. Don't worry, though, we'll fell any enemies long before they get to us."

"I can guarantee us safe passage through Mirkwood, and there ought to be few enough fiends remaining in the mountains after they were all marched here. You said you didn't meet many of them when you passed through, didn't you?" Tauriel looked at Dís in question.

"Not really, but then we also had rather more people than two." Dís shook her head. "I'm not planning to stop you, don't worry. Just wondering just what would possess you to get started on such a foolish venture."

"Why, I thought that would be clear enough." Kíli darted forward to give her one last hug before the journey. "We're going to bring back Bilbo, and perhaps Ori, if all goes well."

"Well! There's a plan I can get behind. Both your brother and mine have been brooding long enough." Dís huffed. "Do make sure this one doesn't get into too much trouble, Tauriel. I would apologise for him, but really, I like to think you knew what you were getting into when you got involved with him."

"Indeed." Tauriel's lips tugged into a smile. "Don't worry. I'll do my best to return him to you in one piece."

"I'll take that promise."

"Good, because we're going now." Kíli got into saddle, waiting for Tauriel to mount her own horse. Then he turned one last time to wave at his mother, then spurred his pony into motion.

They had a long way ahead of them, but then, he couldn't hope for better company on his way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kíli is in for a surprise when he finds a conflicted Ori at Bag End, but he handles it surprisingly well. It probably helps that he knows precisely what his options are in this situation.
> 
> Thorin isn't as happy to hear about Kíli's little scheme, but it's not like he has much of a choice, really. In fact, he's forced to ride out to the Shire just to get his nephew out of this mysterious bit of trouble he has landed himself in.
> 
> If he has his own motivations for doing so, well, nobody needs to know, really. Not until he can tell Bilbo himself.

The closer they got to Bilbo's home, the more impatient Kíli got.

In his own opinion he had been quite exemplary in his conduct on their way there, not even complaining when they stopped in Rivendell to catch up with some elves, nor bringing up the fact that Tauriel was not very welcome to do the same in Mirkwood. However, now that the little green hills and ambling roads of Hobbiton were so clearly within sight, his impatience was taking over, until he was all but bouncing on the back of his pony.

Tauriel, of course, noticed his mood easily enough. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you're waiting to see someone much dearer than me." She was teasing him, though, as evident in the curl of her lips, so he would just have to forgive her for such hurtful words.

"You know it's not like that, amrâlimê." And oh, he was never going to get over the tiny hint of a flush that rose to her cheeks at the sound of that word. "It's just I haven't seen Bilbo in ages, while I bathe in your radiance every day." He threw her what he thought of as quite a charming grin.

"Oh, hush, you." Yet she was smiling, so clearly he wasn't doing too badly at the whole being charming thing. "How about this? I'll see about housing our mounts, then try to find a marketplace nearby, so we don't show up with empty hands. If most of the hobbits do their errands on foot, there has to be one close by. You run ahead to meet with Bilbo, you are the one he'll actually want to see anyway."

"I'm also the one who has actually been there before, though." Kíli frowned. "What if you lose your way?"

"I'm not actually your uncle, you realise." Oh, now she was definitely teasing him. "Besides, you have told me of the place more than once, and I have actually been listening. I promise I will find my way, and even if I happened to get lost, I'm sure any hobbit around here could point me in the direction of the house of Master Baggins."

"If you are sure, then." He reached to take her hand, riding close enough to take it and press a brief kiss to her fingertips. "I'll see you soon, my love."

Tauriel knew him very well by now, as she didn't even need to be told to reach for his reins as he hopped off his pony. His pony also seemed quite used to his antics, merely snorting before she resumed a peaceful walk at the side of Tauriel's horse. Kíli gave them both a cheerful wave before rushing off down the road. They were close enough to Bag End; he would be there in no time.

For some reason it never even occurred to Kíli that Bilbo might not be home. Of course Bilbo would be home; the reason he wasn't at the mountain was that he had gone home, to Bag End, which was here. Therefore, as he made his merry way up to the familiar green door and knocked, only to find no answer, Kíli got somewhat worried.

Well, not worried, not quite. Worrying was for old mother hens like Dori and Thorin and the like, Kíli did not waste his time worrying. However, there was more than one terrifying scenario that flitted through his mind, offering explanations for why Bilbo would not be answering his door. Perhaps the poor hobbit had fallen down and hurt himself, or he was deathly ill, or somehow he had managed to lock himself inside! It could too happen, people who weren't dwarves could sometimes be downright silly with locks and the like. The average home was full of dangers for people who didn't have a good sensible dwarf taking care of them.

After a moment's contemplation, Kíli reached for the door. It wasn't locked, opening easily enough to his push, which only confirmed his suspicions. If before there had still been a remote chance of it occurring to him that Bilbo might have stepped out, now it was entirely gone. There was absolutely no way Bilbo could have gone out and left the door unlocked.

He pushed the door open slowly, listening for any signs of distress or disturbance before stepping in. His hand lingered close to the sword he had at his belt, his bow quite useless in the close confines of a house. Keeping his steps as silent as possible, he crept forward, then froze as he heard footsteps coming closer. Footsteps that were definitely heavier than those of a hobbit could ever be.

"Bilbo?" The voice was familiar, and filled Kíli with hope and dread alike. "Bilbo, you're back already? I thought it'd take you —" Then Ori stepped around the corner, and he fell silent, coming to a halt.

Kíli allowed himself a moment to look at Ori from head to toe. He looked better than he had the last time Kíli had seen him, and also worse. He was better fed, for one thing, with a hint of roundness to his cheeks and his stomach, though that was hardly a surprise considering they'd last seen each other right after the quest and the consequent battle, and now Ori had evidently been spending time in a hobbit household. His beard was longer, too, less wispy, and his hair was growing out quite nicely as well. On the other hand, though, there was a tired look in his eyes that spoke of more than one ill-slept night, the shape of his shoulders slumped in a more permanent fashion than just his old habit of closing in on himself to avoid unwanted attention.

"Ori." It was breath more than a word, and only belatedly his hand fell away from his sword. "You — I thought you'd be in Ered Luin."

"I was planning to." Ori fidgeted, not coming any closer. His eyes sped past Kíli's shoulder once or twice, as though expecting someone else to appear, and that — oh.

"Fíli's not here." He meant it as an apology, was already thinking up explanations and excuses, but to his shock Ori actually looked relieved for a moment before he caught himself and schooled his expression into something more neutral. "I, ah, I was just coming to say hi to Bilbo." With the definite plan of continuing on to Ered Luin to find Ori himself, but he didn't want to sound like he was accusing Ori of anything. "So, are you visiting him or something?"

"I live here, actually." Ori's tongue darted out to wet his lips in a nervous little habit. "I, um, I never made it to Ered Luin. We got closer on the journey here, and then Bilbo asked me to come with him, you know, because he wasn't sure he could handle living alone anymore."

"Oh. Well, that's great." It made sense, really. Bilbo and Ori had somewhat similar temperaments, Kíli could well see them getting along once they came together. And it was good to hear, that neither of them had been alone after leaving the Company. "So, is Bilbo out, then?" Hadn't Ori said something about Bilbo being back?

"He's out at the market, to get some groceries." Well, that was all the better, then Tauriel would probably find him — or Bilbo would find Tauriel, she was sure to stand out in a crowd of hobbits, after all — and they could make their way here together! Kíli grinned, about to announce this stroke of good fortune, when Ori gave him a serious look. "Kíli… you have to go."

"What?" Kíli frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You can't stay here." Ori wouldn't quite meet his eyes, now. "I'm sorry for this, really I am, but just… please, go away."

"Why? What's wrong?" Okay, this had all his instincts tingling even worse than the unlocked door with no answer. This wasn't Ori, certainly not the Ori he had known. Shy and withdrawn he could take, though with the occasional outburst as appropriate, but now Ori looked almost… scared. "Ori. Is something wrong here?"

"Nothing is wrong." Then why wouldn't he look at Kíli? "It's just not a good time for visitors, that's all."

"And why's that?" It wasn't like he had come at an utterly unreasonable hour, not this time. It was the middle of the day, hardly an unthinkable time for a visit. "Is Bilbo sick? Is that it?"

"It doesn't matter." But of course it mattered! "Just… please go?"

If it had been just that, Kíli might have actually turned and gone, if only to track down Bilbo and demand explanations. He might have, except then he stepped back and heard something creak under his boot. He glanced down, afraid he had broken one of Bilbo's beloved knick-knacks that might have somehow ended up on the floor. There was nothing under his boot, just a creaky floorboard, but something else caught his eye to the side of the hallway.

Curious, he reached out to pick up the brightly coloured object. It was a sock, he realised, knit from soft blue yarn, except it was terribly small. "What's this?"

"Ah!" It was a startled squeak more than a word, and wasn't that curious indeed. "That, ah, that must have been left by Bilbo's cousins. They visited recently, they've a very young baby, he must have kicked off a sock at some point."

"Really?" Kíli frowned down at the piece of clothing. "I mean, I've never seen hobbit babies, but I've seen Bilbo's feet, and I'm not sure any hobbit foot could be small enough to fit this at any point." He heard Ori moving, heard him taking a couple of steps away and then some brief scuffle, but he didn't pay much attention to it until he looked back up and found himself staring at gleaming steel.

It was Bilbo's sword, Kíli realised, the little elven dagger, a sheath lying on the floor explaining where Ori had gotten it from. It must have been hanging on a wall or something, not quite as good as being on a belt but probably more than adequate in such a peaceful place, and it had managed to catch Kíli by surprise at least. Still, it looked no more threatening in Ori's hands than it had in Bilbo's even though he knew for a fact it had taken down quite a number of ugly giant spiders. It was still a blade, though, sharp and gleaming and clearly kept in good shape, and it was pointed at him.

"Go away," Ori hissed, though the hint of panic in his voice was ruining the attempt at threat. "Get away from here, Kíli. Please."

"Ori." Okay, this had just gotten very weird. Weird in a way that made him feel sick to his stomach. "Ori, calm down. I'm not a threat, you know I'm not." What in Durin's name had happened to make Ori like this?

"You are, though." Ori almost sounded like he was holding back tears. "You all are, and I can't let you be here, and — and just go away, please, I'm begging you!"

"I'm not going to come any closer, Ori, not unless you give me permission. But I'm also not going to go away until I know why." Was there some danger here that Ori was aware of? Was that it? Was he trying to scare Kíli away before he got into worse trouble? "Whatever it is, I want to help."

"No, you don't." Ori was shaking, Kíli could see it even from where he was standing. "You wouldn't, not if you knew."

"Why don't you try me, then? Because at the moment, I've no idea what's going on. I barely got in through the door when you were telling me to get lost, and I've got to say, that's not the welcome I expected."

"I don't want you in my home. Is that not reason enough?" His voice trembled, too, and he shifted his feet a bit as though he couldn't bear to stand still under Kíli's eyes. "You aren't a prince here, you can't just traipse wherever you like."

"You're worrying me, Ori." Making him panic, more like, except clearly Ori was on the verge of that and they couldn't both be panicking so he had to stay calm, had to stay logical. "I'm not sure what I've done to offend you, but whatever it is, I apologise. I never meant —" Ori still wasn't looking at him, he realised, but he wasn't staring at the floor either. Instead, his eyes were fixed on something else. Something… that appeared to be the tiny sock in his hand.

"I don't want you here," Ori whispered, and it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "Just go."

"A baby." It was an absurd thought, but it would explain the sock, and Ori flinched as he said it and oh, wasn't that a painful thing to see. "A baby? There's a baby?"

"No. There's not." And yet he was certain Ori's little steps weren't just a nervous mannerism, could see that Ori was very deliberately changing his position, setting himself between Kíli and a particular door in the hallway. "Why would there be a baby?"

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" It made a horrifying amount of sense, all of a sudden. Why Ori would have left, why his brothers would have let him. Why he would have come to stay with Bilbo after he'd been so insistent on getting back to Ered Luin. "Ori?"

"It's none of your business." And at last Ori would look at him, except it was a glare, full of tears and anger and pure naked fear. Kíli was quite sure nobody had ever looked at him like that, and it definitely shouldn't have been someone he had considered a friend, had hoped he might one day call brother. "Just go."

"Is there a baby here, Ori?" He paused, watching Ori's expression. "Your baby?" A flinch, though it was almost instantly hidden. "Fíli's?"

"You know perfectly well Fíli has no children." Then why did Ori's voice almost break?

"Except he does, doesn't he?" Kíli looked at Ori in dawning understanding. "You left the mountain, and you had his child, and now you're trying to hide it. But why? Why wouldn't you tell him?"

"Why would I have told him?" And, yes, he was going to take that as an admission, thanks. "So he could have had my baby killed, had us both killed? Or just gotten rid of me instead so he could claim his precious heir?"

"Mahal." Kíli could barely breathe, any words stuck in his throat. "You — do you really think Fíli would do that? Any of that?" It was so absurd as to be bordering on insulting. His brother could have never lifted a finger to harm Ori, never mind do something so monstrous.

"Maybe he wouldn't, I don't know. I didn't feel like finding out. I figured the best case scenario was that he would cast me and the baby out to avoid a scandal, so I decided to save him the trouble." And Ori's expression was so hurt, so fearful, that it was clear he absolutely believed that.

"That's his child, Ori. My brother's firstborn." Oh, Mahal. He was an uncle. There was a tiny being for whom Kíli was the same thing Thorin was to him. Should have been, anyway, except he'd been blissfully unaware of any such duty until now.

"It's his bastard, you mean." There was a tone of bitterness in Ori's voice that Kíli suspected was born from something much deeper and more painful than any doubts he might have had about Fíli. "I'm the bastard son of a bastard line, Kíli. I know how those like me are treated, particularly when the father is nobility. Either the child or the bearer has to be disposed of, or be denied a father which isn't much better when people whisper and watch and gossip. They'll say a child is always a blessing and then they turn away, because it's fine for a blessing to starve if he doesn't know his father's name."

Kíli swallowed. There wasn't anything he could say to that, not really, not when Ori was standing there with shaking hands and haunted eyes. He remembered whispers during the Quest, ones that Thorin had always hushed as soon as he caught wind of them, but which had lived on in sideways glances and murmured asides. He remembered hearing the brothers 'Ri were of Durin's blood, though nobody could quite tell him how they were connected to the line, remembered the defiance in Nori's eyes and the resignation in Dori's as they introduced themselves by their mother's name, and how Ori would not quite meet anyone's eyes at all.

Bastard son of a bastard line. It would certainly explain the bitterness.

"Fíli would never do that," he said still, because he knew his brother, knew how much he loved Ori. Knew that Fíli had let Ori go, had given away his greatest treasure, because he thought Ori was happier without him. "He'd have claimed you and the child and made sure everyone knew you both were his. He wouldn't care what anyone else thinks, not if every single dwarf turned against him. Not when it's about you."

"I'd like to think that," Ori said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Believe me, I really would. I'd love nothing as much as to think he would love me enough for that. But I'm sure my mother thought the same when she told Nori's father she was with child, only for him to tell her to get rid of it or he'd do it for her." His voice cracked at the end, and Kíli was sure he was trembling now, too.

Kíli clenched his fists, angry at a dwarf he had likely never met and suddenly sorely wanted to. "Give me a name," he murmured. "Give me a name, and I swear I'll dig him out and cut his throat myself." Because nobody had the right to do that. Nobody.

"You don't have to do that. He burned with Erebor, before he could figure out our mother had no intention of doing such a thing." Ori chuckled, though he didn't sound very happy at all. "For all the awful things the dragon did, at least I could thank it for my having two brothers instead of just one."

"Fíli isn't like that, though. He never could be. And before you can even say it, neither Thorin nor our mother would even think about such a thing. Even if they did — you know, if Thorin went insane again, because that's the only way it could happen — they'd have to get through Fíli and me first, because there's no way we'd ever allow something like that."

"If it were just me, I would take that risk." Ori clutched the sword a little bit tighter. Not that it would have done him any good, had he been in any actual danger. Kíli would never be as good with a sword as he was with his bow, but he was still as well trained as an heir of Durin should be, and he knew he'd be past Ori in a matter of seconds if he wanted to. "I want to believe Fíli is better than that, that I'm being silly and wrong and it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be. But there's someone else I'm responsible for, now, and I will die before I take any chances with my child's safety."

"I know that, Ori." Would have known it even without the sight of Ori standing between him and the door, trembling yet not backing down, even though they both knew he would hardly even be a hindrance if Kíli actually wanted to force his way past. "And I don't blame you, really I don't. But I swear, I won't let anything happen to you or your child."

"That's just words, though." And Ori sounded tired, now, tired and so very scared, and Kíli hated himself for having any part in making Ori sound like that. "Words are easily forgotten when there's family honour and reputations on the line."

"Then let me give you more than words." He moved slowly, both hands in sight, not wanting to spook Ori into doing something they might both regret as he reached for the knife at his belt on the opposite side from his sword. Eyes never leaving Ori's, he lifted a hand to his head, feeling for the braid he knew to be there, right next to the one he had received from Tauriel. Ori's eyes widened slightly as Kíli lifted the braid off his head and brought the blade of the knife to its root, slicing through the hair before he could do anything stupid like hesitate.

"You — that is —" Ori didn't seem to find the adequate words to describe what he had seen.

"It's the braid of my family." He sheathed his knife before he stepped forward, still just barely out of the reach of Ori's tiny sword, reaching out the severed length of hair. Balin would have despaired at his actions after it had taken so long to wheedle him into wearing the braid in the first place, but then he liked to think his old teacher would have approved, anyway. "If you won't take my word, then take this. I swear to you on my honour and my line that I will protect your child with my life, even if it is to be from my king or my brother. If I ever break this vow, let me be without honour and line both, for I have given them to you, for you to judge my worth of them." He drew a deep breath. "I swear this to you as Kíli, son of Dís, as one mother's son to another." Sure, his father was lost to death and not unfortunate circumstance, his line obscured by the shadow of Durin and not secret or scandal, but the fact remained Kíli could not recite his father's line as he was supposed to.

"That's not an idle vow." The tip of the blade fell, just a little, but Kíli was going to go ahead and count that as a victory.

"Nor is it idly given." Kíli still held the braid out to Ori. "I'll do whatever it takes to convince you, Ori. I'll take any oath, give any guarantee. Anything to make you believe I'd never hurt you or my nephew."

For a moment Ori stared at him, but then something inside him seemed to crumble. The blade fell further, though he still wouldn't let go of it even as his other hand reached for Kíli's. With a cautious step forward, he took the braid, closing his fist around it tightly as though afraid Kíli might yet ask for it back. Only then did he let the sword clatter to the floor, his entire body shaking as he held the braid close to his chest.

"Please," Ori murmured, so quietly Kíli could barely hear him. "Please, Mahal, let it be true…"

"You're safe." At last he dared to step close enough to draw Ori into his arms. It wasn't his place, not really, but the least he could do was act in Fíli's stead, now. "You and your child are safe, I swear. Fíli could never hurt you, not if his life depended on it."

"I couldn't know that." Ori sounded so very broken about it. "Not when I became a liability."

"Fíli would have been over the moon to hear about the kid." Would be, once Kíli convinced Ori to let him send a message. He wasn't quite enough of a meddling fool to just send one behind Ori's back, not when he was so terrified of the truth getting out. Both Bilbo and Tauriel would have killed him, for one thing, and besides he wasn't quite as much of an idiot as everyone would have liked to think he was. "He was planning to ask for your hand, you know, after the battle. Give you courtship beads and everything. Except then you decided to leave and he managed to convince himself you hated him and had only been playing along so he wouldn't get angry at you and your brothers."

"Really?" Ori still sounded disbelieving. "But… why would he court me? I'm just a little scribe who isn't important in any way. I can understand it on the road, when there weren't so many people around, but…"

"Because he loves you, silly." Kíli grinned. "And don't you worry about being just a scribe or whatever. With Thorin pining over Bilbo and my giving braids to an elf, I think the kingdom will throw a collective party at the slightest indication that at least one of us is interested in someone with an actual beard."

Ori tittered, and while it still sounded kind of teary, it was worlds better than fear and mistrust. "Ah. Yes, I think even I would be preferable in that situation."

"Don't be silly, you're basically the perfect dwarf for Fíli. The only ones who might protest are some stupid nobles who thought they'd have a chance at marrying one of their offspring to Fíli, and I promise you, my brother's not one bit interested in any of them."

"Right." Still a hint of disbelief, but at least Ori wasn't openly arguing with him now. "If you say so."

"Hey, which one of us knows Fíli better, me or you?" Kíli paused, considering his own words. "Okay, so really that depends on the subject, I bet there are a lot of things you know about him that I really would rather not. And now I've gone and started thinking about them. How about we change this subject very quickly? Any chance I could, you know, actually see my nephew?"

"Ah." Ori licked his lips again, and nervous habit or not, that was so much better than tears and naked fear, especially as it broke into a shy, careful little smile. "Actually, it's a niece."

"Niece?" Kíli broke into a wide grin. "You had a girl? Seriously? Durin's balls, I know people keep saying our family's blessed for taking back the mountain — which, really, if they saw the way Fíli and Thorin both keep moping in private they wouldn't say that, it's pathetic really — but to think my brother actually managed to give you a daughter!"

"Well, he did." Ori's smile grew a bit more secure, though there were still traces of tears on his face. "So, um, you'd like to see her?"

"More than anything in my life." And it was true, really, he couldn't remember waiting for anything with such pure joy, not even when he had been hoping to see Tauriel again after the battle because he hadn't dared be too hopeful then until she was actually by his bedside.

Of course that was when the front door flew open again, Bilbo and Tauriel rushing in, and really it would have been enough of a mess already except then there was the sound of a crying baby from behind the door Ori had been guarding.

*

When Bilbo first saw Tauriel at the marketplace, he was sure he was mistaken.

Not that there were very many elves running about Hobbiton, of course, he wasn't sure he recalled any such visitors within his own lifetime, but that still seemed more likely than a visit from an elf who he knew for a fact was supposed to be halfway across the world right now. It wasn't like he even knew Tauriel very well, anyway, had only met her briefly before leaving the mountain as he had visited the slumbering Kíli to murmur his goodbyes. Clearly he was mistaken, and this was just some other elf with a similar face and long red hair and what on a closer look appeared to be dwarven arm guards.

Well, fiddlesticks.

Of course, Tauriel rather solved the dilemma by simply recognising him in turn, quite easily making her way through the crowd of hobbits. "Master Baggins!" she called out, smiling at him. "I was hoping I might find you here!"

"Ah. Tauriel, wasn't it?" Sure, he was still a bit surprised to see her, but that didn't mean he was going to be impolite. "I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Shire is a bit far from Mirkwood, isn't it?"

"And further still from Erebor." Tauriel smiled as she came to a stop in front of him. She was dressed for the road, he noticed, a couple of large bags at her back and holding some packages in her arms that seemed to have come from the market stalls. Was she buying supplies for a journey, then? Well, she hardly could have found a better place than Hobbiton for that. "It's certainly been a long ride for us."

"Us?" Bilbo frowned at that. "You aren't here alone, then?"

"Oh, no. Kíli is with me. He went ahead to your house, in fact, was in quite the hurry to see you. I suspect he'll be upset to realise I found you first after all."

"He what?" Kíli. Kíli was headed for Bag End. Bag End, where Ori was waiting for Bilbo to get back with the groceries while he kept an eye on Nuoli while she had her nap.

"He went to your house. He must have just missed you on the way." Tauriel frowned, no doubt noticing his shock, now. "Master Baggins? Are you quite all right?"

"No. Oh, no." Bilbo felt ill. There was no way this was going to end well. Even if Kíli meant no harm — as he desperately wanted to believe — Ori would hardly react well to a sudden visit from someone like that, particularly if he was home alone. "This is not good."

"Right." Tauriel took on a serious look, now. "Well, whatever it is that concerns you, clearly we should see to it at once."

Bilbo swallowed. "Indeed." He hesitated for a moment, but then decided against needless secrecy. He knew elves adored children, knew or at least fervently hoped he could count on her as an ally. "I'll explain on the way, shall I?"

They quickly made their way away from the marketplace, and Bilbo studiously ignored the whispers that had already started after such a strange display. It wasn't until they were out of earshot that he relayed the main points of the situation to Tauriel, keeping to as little detail as he could and still give an accurate picture. He did hate to be breaking Ori's confidence so, even though Tauriel was sure to discover the truth as soon as they made it to Bag End.

"That's just horrible," Tauriel gasped as Bilbo finished his summary of the situation. "To think that he would fear so for his child!"

"Indeed." Bilbo gave her a grim nod. "I'd like to think the dwarves I know wouldn't stoop to such levels, but I can't exactly ask Ori to take such risks with his daughter's life."

"Well, I'm absolutely sure Kíli wouldn't have anything to do with such things." Tauriel sounded rather convinced of this. "And I ought to know, surely, being his wife and all."

"Ah, right. I suppose congratulations are in order." Though he couldn't quite summon up a sincere smile, not now when he was so very worried.

"There'll be time for such later." And this, this seemed very agreeable. Bilbo only nodded in response, walking as fast as he could with his shorter legs.

He wasn't quite sure what he expected as he flung open the front door, quite ready to start yelling at foolish young dwarves immediately if he needed to. It certainly wasn't Kíli and Ori standing close to each other, Kíli still in his full travelling gear, with Sting lying on the floor between them. Before he could question them, though, the sound of Nuoli crying reached them, and Ori immediately turned around to rush to his daughter.

Kíli turned towards them, now, and a bright grin took over his face immediately. "Bilbo!" he exclaimed. "Been a while since I've seen you. And to think you fled from the mountain without even saying goodbye!"

"I did say goodbye, though. You just weren't awake." This was a good sign, right? This had to be a good sign, Kíli was acting positively cheerful and Ori hadn't looked terribly upset or anything, though the fact that Sting had been drawn wasn't very reassuring.

"Yes, well, clearly you should have waited the five months or so until I was actually coherent again, would have made things much easier for us all." Kíli glanced at Tauriel, then, and his grin got even wider if that was even possible. "Guess what, Tauriel? I'm an uncle!"

"Yes, so I hear." Tauriel seemed amused at his enthusiasm, not that Bilbo could much blame her. Kíli's grin was infectious, as always, and even Bilbo's own lips were tugging themselves toward a smile. "Bilbo was rather worried things might go badly here if Ori got too startled."

"He did threaten me a bit, but nothing serious, really." Kíli shrugged, as though the idea of being threatened with a sword was a simple matter. Though then, he was a trained warrior, and had faced a war and now two journeys across a sizable portion of Middle-Earth. Bilbo rather suspected Ori didn't even come close to being considered a threat in his world. "I think I've convinced him now that I won't allow anything bad to happen to either him or my new favourite niece."

"I'm fairly sure she is your only niece." It was almost calming to see, the easy way Kíli and Tauriel went back and forth, a clear sign of how comfortable they were with each other. "Have you even met her yet?"

"Not yet, but you can't tell me I'm wrong, really." Kíli gave them another wide grin. "After all, if I don't have other nieces, then she's my favourite by default, right?"

"I suppose you're not wrong there." Bilbo finally allowed himself to smile properly. "It's good to see you, Kíli."

"Of course it is." And then, because Kíli was Kíli, Bilbo found himself picked up and swung around, Kíli laughing at his protests. As he was set down, he somehow managed to level a mostly serious finger towards the young prince.

"You — you utterly hopeless oaf of a dwarf! I'll not be swung about like some little faunt in my own smial, thank you very much!"

"Oh, you'd prefer me to do it so out in public?" Kíli grinned before he stepped past Bilbo to Tauriel. "Aw, but you're ruining my fun, Tauriel's just too tall for me to do that to her!"

"I'd say you manage well enough." Tauriel leaned down to kiss Kíli, and Bilbo couldn't help but shake his head fondly at the two of them. They were definitely happy together, that much was clear. It was good to see, for all that it also made him ache, just a bit. Once, he'd thought it might have been — but no, it was useless to speculate about such things.

Luckily he didn't get too far along that train of thought, as this was when Ori returned, carrying Nuoli in his arms. He still looked a bit nervous, but was smiling as he walked closer. "See, darling? No need for you to cry. Uncle Bilbo's here, and so are your Uncle Kíli and Aunt Tauriel."

"Oh, Mahal." Bilbo wasn't sure he'd ever heard Kíli so plain awed at anything. "Oh, Ori, she's beautiful."

"I know." For once Ori didn't shy away, taking on a small yet proud smile as he held his daughter close. Nuoli was calming down now, reassured by her father's closeness. "Ah. Would you like to hold her? Fair warning, though, she likes pulling at hair."

"May I?" Kíli looked so childishly hopeful Bilbo almost regretted having to step in.

"I rather think bags and weapons and such should be set aside before there's any baby holding to be done." Bilbo shook his head. "I didn't manage to grab all the supplies I planned to, but I wouldn't be worth the hair on my feet if I couldn't get at least something together for friends at a short notice."

"Ah. I did actually buy some foodstuffs, it's why I was at the marketplace. Figured it would be more polite than just showing up out of the blue." Tauriel allowed Bilbo to take the packages she had been carrying. "I wasn't really sure what you'd prefer, so I tried to get all sorts of things."

"Oh, you really shouldn't have, but thank you." Bilbo accepted the packages, quickly taking note of which ones he could recognise from the wrappings. This one was clearly some of Mrs Honeycomb's excellent bread, and there was some fresh fish from young Olivar Greencorner, and was that some vegetables? "Ori, I'll take these to the kitchen, could you see our guests settled? Once everything sharp and pointy has been properly put away, of course."

A proper dinner would take a little while, but he could at least get it started and then gather some quick little things for his guests to nibble on while they waited. When he came to the sitting room, carrying a tray with some bread, cheese, and other easy snacks, Kíli was bouncing a giggling Nuoli at his knee with a look of delighted awe on his face.

"Oh, she's just perfect!" He chuckled as the giggling child tugged at a lock of his hair. "I want one, Tauriel. Can we have one?"

"It's not just a matter of want, my love, we've spoken of this before. There's also a bit of effort and quite a lot of luck involved." Tauriel was smiling, though, leaning against his shoulder. Ori was watching them both with an expression of cautious happiness.

"Oh, well. Suppose I'll have to keep putting in some effort, then." Kíli flashed her a teasing grin before turning his attention back to Nuoli. "I really don't think Ori would let us steal this one, she's just too perfect to let go. Yes you are, little one, yes you are."

"I don't think you'd want to try that one, no, the lads around here showed Ori how to use a proper sling and a good hit from that can do more than just smart a bit." Bilbo snorted as he came closer with his offerings. "And I suppose this is the most tasteful opportunity I'm going to get to point out that I've had bigger beds put into a couple of the guest rooms. Mostly I was thinking of dwarves possibly stopping by, but they should be sizable enough for an elf, and certainly they're more comfortable than anything you'd find at the inn."

"I think we should politely protest, but we've spent too long on the road for that." Kíli flashed him a grin. "Don't worry, we'll try not to cause overly much noise or anything."

"I would say something about the good qualities of thick hobbit walls, but you'd just take that as a challenge." Bilbo snorted, setting his tray down. "Tea will be done soon. Perhaps for now you'd like to tell us what exactly brings you here?"

"Actually? We came looking for the two of you. Our original plan was to come to Hobbiton first and then perhaps continue to Ered Luin, but it seems out journey has been made easy." Tauriel touched Kíli's shoulder and stood up, walking over to the tray to pick up some food while he was busy entertaining the child.

"Both of us?" Ori blinked. "And why would you do that?"

"Why, so we could convince you to come back, of course. Uncle and Fíli are both being utterly hopeless." Kíli shrugged as though this were an obvious answer and didn't just raise more questions than it answered. "We'd have come earlier, but first I had to recover and then we had to wait out the winter. We set out as soon as we were reasonably sure the mountain passes would be clear for us to get through."

"And before you ask, yes, they are aware we left, though I doubt anyone but Lady Dís knows our objective for certain. The rest think Kíli wanted to escape the mountain after being stuck there for so long and decided to take the chance to show me the area where he grew up." Tauriel glanced at Kíli, who was now watching her imploringly, and gave a very un-ladylike snort. "I'm not going to feed you. If you want to eat, I'm afraid you'll have to return her to her father."

"Oh, fine." Kíli gave a dramatic sigh before crossing over to hand Nuoli back to Ori, then turned his attention to the snack tray as well. "We've got a raven with us, well, it's with our mounts and the rest of our gear right now, we'll have to get it later today, I suppose. I'll have to send a message back to the mountain anyway, tell them I can't come back."

"What?" Bilbo blinked, startled. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Well, I did kind of swear an oath of protection." Kíli nodded toward Ori, who flushed slightly, burying his face in Nuoli's hair for a moment. "So, since I doubt you'll agree to come with us before getting some better assurances of Nuoli's safety, I can't exactly just run off and leave you all alone. So unless either Uncle or Fíli comes around and backs up my promise of protection, I can't leave."

Now, Ori's eyes widened and the colour drained from his face. "You planned this!" he blurted out. "You — you just wanted an excuse to call them here!"

"You think either too highly of my ability to think on my feet, or too little of my reliability." Kíli gave him a lopsided smile. "I had no plans or schemes in mind, I just wanted to offer you what protection I could; it didn't occur to me until afterwards that this could also pose a problem. Don't worry, though; I will send no word of any kind unless you agree to it, certainly nothing that would tell them where I am or who is here with me. Would be a damn bad way of showing how trustworthy I am, going behind your back like that."

"It might not be a bad idea, though." Bilbo was very aware that everyone aside from Nuoli was looking at him all of a sudden, ranging from Kíli's suddenly very sharp eyes to Ori's questioning ones. "I mean, we'll have to clear up the situation sooner or later. Seems to me that having one of them come down here, probably without much of a retinue, would offer the most advantageous circumstances for us."

"I could and would keep telling you neither of them would harm Nuoli until I'm blue in the face, but until the situation is actually cleared up, nothing I say is going to make much of a difference." Kíli shrugged. "Well, not in this matter, at least, though I do have some say regarding Nuoli."

"You do?" Bilbo blinked. "And what do you mean by that?"

"It's a complicated matter, but then, important things often are." Kíli shook his head. "None but Fíli can give her the right to her father's name or seal; not even Thorin could grant her that. If Fíli acknowledges her, she will have the names and seals and inheritance all, and none can deny that. However, even without Fíli even knowing of her, there are other things she may have."

"Oh?" Bilbo frowned. That did sound awfully complicated. "Such as?"

"Well, there's the family's protection, for one. I've already given her that by swearing my own defence of Ori and her, and nobody can deny her that but Thorin, and even he could only do that by casting me out as well as it is by my oath." Kíli said this with a light tone, as though the possibility did not bother him in the slightest. "I can also give her the right to the name and seal of the line of Durin, simply by acknowledging her as my kin. Those Thorin could deny if he wanted, and Fíli as the first heir could deny the seal of Durin, though not against Thorin's will. In any case it would require them to specifically state that she has no right to them, and as long as they don't even know about her that can't happen, not that I expect them to do so either way."

"I wish I had your hope." Ori touched Nuoli's soft hair, sighing a bit. "I've little care for any of those things. All I want is for her to be safe."

"Then there's the matter of the inheritance, of course. You know, where the throne is to go." Kíli grinned. "That's the fun bit, or at least I think so."

"And why is it so amusing, my dwarf?" Tauriel lifted her eyebrows.

"Because while everything else could be denied to her by others, that is Kíli's decision to make." Ori's voice was quiet. "Thorin could name her as Fíli's heir, but not if Kíli disagreed, as to do so would take away his place. Only Fíli could name her his heir against Kíli's will. Conversely Kíli could name her Fíli's heir in his place, and nobody could deny her that, not unless Fíli named another with more claim than Kíli himself, which could only be a child that he called his own."

"And we know that's not going to happen, as he would not have a child by anyone else." Kíli grinned. "So, you know, she's going to be a princess of Erebor as soon as I swear fealty to her."

"You don't have to do that." Ori wouldn't look at any of them. "I never asked for it."

"I know you didn't. I also know I swore to do whatever it takes to keep both of you safe." Kíli shook his head. "I plan to keep my word, Ori, and nothing will keep me from it."

"I trust your word. It's just, all I want is a safe and peaceful life for my daughter."

"Except that's not true, is it?" And oh, Kíli's gaze was sharp again. "That's not all you want, this isn't all you want. I'm not claiming to know you through and through, Ori, but I know you well enough. You want to raise your child in the mountain, with your brothers at your side." Kíli paused for a moment. "You want Fíli at your side."

"I never said this was the ideal situation." Ori blinked, then looked over to Bilbo. "Ah! Not to say I'm not happy here, I am, and I'm very grateful to you for everything, it's just —"

"No, you don't need to explain." He'd seen it often enough, the wistful look Ori sometimes wore, all the evenings he spent staring at the flames in the fireplace and not truly hearing what Bilbo said. "I happen to agree with Kíli. You would be happier in Erebor, I'm sure, you and Nuoli both. Not that you aren't welcome to stay here as long as you wish."

"You could come to Erebor too, you know, Bilbo." Wait, when had this conversation become about him? What was Kíli doing? They were supposed to be convincing Ori. "Everyone misses you, especially Thorin. They'd probably throw a big party if you came back."

"I rather doubt I'd be so very wanted." Bilbo shook his head. "I did my job, and not very well at that. I've been banished once, I don't need a repeat of that."

"Uncle overturned that, though. I mean, obviously I wasn't there to hear it for myself, but I heard about it afterwards, and I've seen enough of Thorin to know he hasn't changed his mind again. He's miserable, Bilbo, and he needs you back to get better."

"I highly doubt that has anything to do with me." Bilbo sniffed, fighting down the flush that threatened to rise to his face. Out of annoyance, obviously, it wasn't like he had any other reason to flush. Such nonsense, all of this. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to see to the tea."

When he returned some time later with the fresh tea, the situation had relaxed a bit. Ori smiled at the sight of Bilbo with the teapot and cups, preparing to set Nuoli down on the floor to get his cup, only for Kíli to come over instead.

"Just let me hold her again," he said, grinning. "I don't care that much for the tea anyway, I think the three of you will enjoy it much more."

"Careful with what you say. You'll find yourself doing a lot of baby-tending during tea time with such words." Nevertheless, Ori smiled as he handed Nuoli over. It was good to see that he at least seemed to trust Kíli, even if he still had his doubts about the rest of the royal family.

"Looking after such a beautiful little thing? Such a hardship." Kíli chuckled and ticked Nuoli under the chin, drawing a giggle from her. "Except you're not little, are you? You're a right big girl, yes you are. You'll probably be walking soon, won't you?"

"Not for a while yet, she's not even a year old." Ori rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. "And not that I mind you talking to her, but I've been speaking Khuzdul to her, she hears plenty of Westron as it is."

"I was trying to be polite here. Would seem strange to start speaking in front of Bilbo so when he has no idea what's going on."

"I'll admit my skills are still a bit rudimentary, but I'd be hoping that whatever you have to say to a baby would be within my skill level." At Kíli's surprised gaze, Bilbo shrugged. "Ori figured that teaching me some Khuzdul would be the best way to make sure Nuoli learns it alongside Westron and not as an afterthought. I did ask him if that would be all right, and he said he's adopting me as his brother."

"Well, that's pretty clever." Kíli grinned, now, and that was a good sign. Bilbo had to admit that for all of Ori's assurances that it would be all right, he had been slightly worried about what others would think of the matter. "You and Tauriel should study together, though I'm pretty sure the only reason she wants to learn is so I can't say silly things to her without her understanding me."

"More like I want to know what all the other dwarves are saying behind my back, but sure, it's all because of you." Tauriel was smiling as she accepted a steaming cup from Bilbo, though, so clearly this was all good.

They passed a few moments sipping at their tea and chatting while Kíli seemingly had a lot of fun chatting with Nuoli in Khuzdul and getting some baby babble in response. Ori and Bilbo were both grateful for news about their friends back in the mountain, and Tauriel seemed well up to date about the goings-on of the Company. Though then, apparently she had spent almost a year and a half in the mountain, so it made sense they would have grown to trust her to some degree as well.

Really, they might have almost missed it entirely, if Kíli hadn't insisted on getting down on his knees on the floor, settling a very curious-looking Nuoli on the couch in his seat.

"Kíli." Tauriel seemed half amused, half exasperated. "What are you doing?"

"Shh, no interfering here." Kíli grinned, then took on a serious expression, one that Nuoli seemed to try to mirror. Bilbo might have laughed, except Ori looked grave all of a sudden. Kíli started speaking, then, and Bilbo didn't recognise much more than the names in the quick stream of Khuzdul, except before he could even ask anything Kíli had switched over to Westron, no doubt mostly for his benefit. "Nuoli, daughter of Ori, of Durin's line and Durin's folk. I, Kíli, son of Dís, recognise your claim to the throne of Erebor, and know it to be higher than my own. I give you my place, then, as the second in the royal line, and swear to serve you as I would my king, as I hope to one day serve you on the throne of Erebor."

Bilbo swallowed. He didn't need any explanations to know what this was about. Ori certainly didn't, looking shocked. As Ori spoke, his voice was quiet. "I told you, I don't need any of that."

"And I told you it's my choice." Kíli grinned at little Nuoli, who smiled back, having no idea what had just happened but echoing his excitement, clapping her little hands together. "Wouldn't you agree, princess?"

"You're not going to ever let that go now, are you?" And yet, Ori was smiling, just a little.

"Not a chance." Kíli laughed, then picked up his niece and swung her high up in the air, eliciting delighted shrieks from Nuoli. "I told you I would swear myself to her, and now I have. It's only right, anyway, it's her rightful title, and I'm going to damn well make sure she has everything she ought to until my brother gets his head out of his ass and comes around to do it himself."

It was perhaps not the most decorous declaration ever, Bilbo mused, but he also suspected it was one of the most sincere one could have hoped for. This, at least, was one heir of Durin they had no cause to fear in any capacity.

And if Ori's eyes were gleaming with the threat of tears, well, at least he was smiling as well.

*

"Thorin?"

Thorin looked up from the documents he had been reading, nodding as he saw Balin standing at the doorway. "Balin. Something the matter?" He couldn't help but wonder, really. It wasn't quite late enough that it would have been unseemly for Balin to drop by — after all, Thorin was still in his office, and with Dís for company no less — but it was drawing close to dinner time, and Balin did usually conduct business at earlier hours unless something urgent came up. Besides, there was a look on his face that made Thorin suspect things weren't entirely fine at the moment.

"You've received a letter." Balin waved it as though Thorin might have required evidence of this mysterious letter. "Arrived by raven just now."

"Raven?" That was strange. Generally the only one who sent him messages by raven was Dáin, and he preferred to stick to something short enough to just have the raven repeat it; any longer messages he would send along with a trading caravan. Unless… "From Kíli?"

"That's what the bird says." Balin shook his head, walking further into the room and setting the letter on Thorin's desk. Dís seemed interested now as well, as was only to be expected as her son had been mentioned. "Wouldn't tell me a lot, except that Kíli and Tauriel are both doing well and he'd like to fly the response back. Apparently Kíli's been feeding him quite well."

"Should be careful the bird doesn't get too fat to fly." Thorin picked up the letter. It had his name on it in carefully drawn runes, a simple seal pressed into red wax. Kíli had every right to claim a personal seal, but refused to do so, preferring the generic Durin seal he had claim to as a member of the royal family. Thorin reached for his pen knife, now, prying the seal off one side and opening the letter.

The message wasn't too long, scratched together in dark Khuzdul runes on some very fine paper. Kíli had never had the neatest penmanship, but Thorin supposed it was legible at least, if nothing else. It was the contents of the message that interested him more, anyway.

_"Uncle,_

_We're staying in the Shire, with Bilbo, and will be here for the time being. Got myself into some trouble, can't come home until you or Fíli come sort it out. Don't send mom, she can't help me with this; I took an oath that ties me here and only one of you can free me from it. Bilbo says we can stay as long as we'd like, though, so you know, no terrible hurry or anything._

_Let me know if you're coming._

_— Kíli_

_P.S. Bilbo is doing fine. He seems a bit lonely, though."_

For a moment Thorin stared at the letter in his hands. He then passed it on to Dís — or, more like allowed her to grab it from his fingers — staring at the wall as she read it. Finally he stood up, running a hand over his hair. Trust Kíli to manage to get in trouble in the Shire of all places.

"So." Dís quickly finished reading the letter, getting up from her seat to pass it along to Balin, who was looking more concerned by the moment. Well, reading the letter would hardly make him any less so. "It seems my youngest son has gotten himself into quite the pickle once again."

"And to think I thought having Tauriel with him would at least keep him out of the worst of it." Thorin sighed. Though then, he supposed Tauriel couldn't truly help it if her husband chose to take some inadvisable oaths. "Do you have any idea what this could be about?"

"I know little more than you do." Dís shrugged. She looked remarkably calm about this, though then, she had been dealing with Kíli more than anyone else. "All I know is that he planned to go west, and mentioned something about seeing Bilbo, so I'm not entirely surprised to see that he ended up in the Shire."

"And probably not very surprised to see that he is in trouble." Thorin sighed. "I suppose we could write him and ask for more details, but I doubt Tauriel would have let him write such a letter if it wasn't true."

"Indeed." Dís crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you have any idea about what to do?"

"I don't have much choice here, do I?" Thorin shook his head. "Sending Fíli would be useless, in the worst case he would get stuck there too, by intention or otherwise. No, I'll go myself."

Balin lifted his eyebrows, having now read the letter as well. "It's not a simple matter for the king to go traipsing off."

"I am aware, Balin, but I also can't leave Kíli to his own devices if indeed he needs help." He sighed. "The kingdom is stable now, and I don't foresee any sudden crisis. I will leave Fíli in charge, so the mountain is not left without a ruler. It'll be good practice for him, anyway."

"And I'm assuming you plan to leave soon, hmm?"

"I'll have to, if I want to make it past Misty Mountains before the passes close. I won't return before next year, from the looks of it, but Fíli can handle one winter." He'd have to handle many more in the future, after all.

"You think that's wise?" This time it was Dís who questioned him, her eyebrows raised but a hint of real concern in her eyes. "I know he's been of great help to you, but he is still young."

"Which is why I hope the two of you will give him all the support he needs. You were able to keep me from failing when I first took charge of our people, and our situation here is much more stable than it was on the road." Thorin allowed himself a small lop-sided smile. "It's as good a chance as any to see if he's ready for the responsibility." It would come for him soon enough either way.

"You can't go on your own, though." Balin frowned, now. "Not to doubt your battle prowess, but it's a long and dangerous road, far too much so for someone travelling alone."

"I'm not going to go alone. I will take Dwalin with me, and I suppose Nori as well; Dori is too busy with guild matters, but I suppose Nori would welcome the chance to visit Ori in Ered Luin, seeing how it's not very far from the Shire." Never mind that he doubted Dwalin would like to be separated from Nori for so long, if the rumours were anything to go by. "Between the three of us I think we can manage."

"Assuming you don't insult the elves again and get yourself thrown in the cells." And really, his sister should have had more faith in him, this was just embarrassing. "Ah, well, I suppose you are right; depending on Fíli to get his brother out of trouble would be a doomed plan from the start. Give us a few days to set things up before you ride off to find your lost love again."

Clearly that deserved no answer, particularly as Balin was smirking, too. Instead, Thorin turned back to his desk. "Right. Should get as much of my paperwork done as I can. It would be quite unfair to leave Fíli to deal with all this in my absence."

After everything was in order, though, he would be riding out at the earliest opportunity. It would not do to leave Kíli in whatever predicament he had landed himself in.

And if he saw Bilbo on the way, well, that was only a side benefit of doing what he had to.

*

This time, Thorin didn't get lost on the way to Bag End.

Not that it had been his fault the first time around, either. All these hobbit holes looked the same, no matter what Bilbo might have grumbled, particularly so as he hadn't gotten into Hobbiton until dark. There was very little to point his way in the dark, and no passers-by to ask for help when he found he had stepped the wrong way at some point. All that, and no stone to guide him, and it was no wonder it had taken Thorin a while to find his way. Clearly, it had not been his fault at all.

This time, he arrived in the middle of the day, and there was plenty of sunlight to tell the little hobbit doors apart, and people to ask for help as well. Some of them gave him suspicious gazes, but a surprising number seemed rather happy to tell him the way, and some even pointed him in the right direction before he could even ask them to do so. Though then, he supposed he looked enough like Kíli, or rather Kíli looked enough like him that the hobbits would draw the connection.

It was probably a good thing that Dwalin and Nori had volunteered to see about stabling their ponies and securing rooms at the inn, just in case they could not find a place elsewhere. He was rather sure that Dwalin's scowl would have discouraged any poor little hobbitlings from giving them directions or indeed from doing anything but run and scream. Well, hopefully the two of them remembered the directions from their last visit.

So no, he didn't get lost. He found his way all the way to Bagshot Row, and only once did a little fauntling who barely came up to his hip run back to drag him the right way by the hand after noticing he was turning the wrong way right after asking her for the directions. Really, he was doing very well with this whole finding his way thing, considering there was no mountain to guide his feet.

Kíli had better appreciate everything he did.

As he approached the familiar gate, though, Thorin hesitated. Coming for Kíli was one thing, but things weren't that simple, not here, not in Hobbiton. Not when he could see Bilbo's green door, such a familiar sight at the top of a small well-tended garden for all that he had only been here once before and then in the dark.

Coming for Kíli meant meeting Bilbo. And while he had come all this way of his own choice, all of a sudden Thorin wasn't sure he was ready for that just yet.

In the end the choice was stolen from him as the door opened while he still stood at the gate, all but frozen in his hesitation. A familiar figure walked out, dark hair a mess aside from a marriage braid on one side, a bouncy step to his feet he whistled while walking down the steps. Well, clearly Kíli wasn't in too much distress, whatever his messages might have implied. As he saw Thorin, though, he halted, then turned serious in the blink of an eye.

"Well." Kíli came down to the gate, crossing his arms across his chest as he eyed Thorin over it. "Took your time getting here, hmm?"

"As you'll remember, Erebor isn't exactly around the corner." Thorin shook his head. "I set out as soon as I had taken care of things. After all, a king can't exactly ride out on a whim."

"Yeah, we were a bit surprised to hear you were coming yourself." Kíli still didn't seem to relax. "Thought you would send Fíli in your stead." There was a hint of tension to his voice, though Thorin couldn't truly blame the lad for it. He supposed he would have much preferred to see his brother rather than Thorin.

"I left him to take care of the mountain. Figured that sending him would only run the risk of him getting stuck here as well." Thorin shook his head. No, he wasn't about to give his heirs the chance for more foolishness. Seeing Bilbo had nothing to do with his choices at all. "Dwalin and Nori are with me, they'll be joining us as soon as they settle matters with our ponies and such things."

"Right." Kíli was still frowning. "Well, I suppose we should get a couple of things clear first of all." He turned to glance towards the hobbit hole. The door was closed, but Thorin thought he could see someone moving behind the window, only a fleeting glimpse that was too brief for him to make out who it was.

"I'm listening." After all, Kíli was the only one who had any idea what was going on here. Thorin was hardly in a position to be setting conditions when he didn't know the circumstances, beyond that the lad had done something foolish.

"Those inside this house are under my protection." He wasn't sure he had ever heard Kíli sound so serious in his life, not even when he had come to Thorin and announced his intention to court and marry Tauriel. "You are my uncle and my king, and I am loyal to you as such, but if you think to bring any harm to them, you'll be doing so over my dead body."

"You think I would harm anyone here?" Thorin was honestly shocked by that. "You know me, Kíli. I only ever threatened Bilbo under the call of the madness. If that's why you doubt me, that's all very well, but then if the madness took over me again, I'd want you to take a blade to me before you allowed me to do something so foolish again." He paused. "Or is this about Tauriel? Because I assure you, I have not changed my mind about her."

"It's not me who fears you." And oh, that drove a cold lance right through Thorin's heart. Bilbo, it had to be Bilbo. Bilbo doubted him, feared him even, and the only one Thorin could blame for it was himself. After all, he had given the hobbit little reason to trust his word.

"You have my word on it." Thorin met Kíli's gaze with a steady one of his own, hoping to show his sincerity. "I will not raise my hand against anyone in his house, nor allow others to do so in my stead. I swear this on the tombs of my ancestors, and my honour as an heir of Durin's line."

Kíli still eyed him with some suspicion, then nodded, apparently satisfied with this for the moment. "Right. I suppose that'll have to do."

"So, am I allowed to come in?"

"Can't really stop you, now can I?" Kíli stepped away, allowing Thorin to open the gate and step into the garden. "And, well, you did come all this way. Would be pretty pointless to turn you away when I asked you to come here in the first place."

"Indeed it would." Thorin followed him toward the stairs, not really minding that Kíli seemed to be slow in his steps. "So. Are you going to tell me what's going on that you would need my help to leave this place?"

"As I said in my letter, I've sworn an oath, and can't be freed from it so easily." Kíli glanced at Thorin, his expression still that awfully serious one that was rather starting to make Thorin worried. "I've sworn an oath of protection, and only you or Fíli can make that unnecessary."

"Is Bilbo truly that worried?" He'd suspected the hobbit might be afraid, still, and perhaps that was why he had left the mountain in the first place. This, though, this was rather beyond anything he had imagined.

"It's not Bilbo, no." Kíli paused, almost at the door now, and turned to Thorin. "I mean it, Thorin. I'll fight you to death if I need to, yours or mine. I've sworn it on my braids, and I won't break that oath."

"You're beginning to scare me, Kíli." And he was, really. Whatever could have made his light-hearted prince so grim? "I promise you, there's no madness in my mind. No one here has anything to fear from me."

"I hope so, because I'm not entirely sure which one of us would live after that battle." Kíli opened the door, now, easy as you please, and Thorin thought of how long he must have spent living here, walking in and out every day. He rather envied the lad for that, for all that he was happy to be back in the mountain of his childhood. This was a peaceful place, and, well. The mountain did not have Bilbo.

The door opened to a silent house, Kíli walking inside a few steps before he halted. He glanced about, waiting for Thorin to come in after him and close the door before he called out.

"Thorin's here!" Though Thorin rather suspected whoever was hiding from them was already well aware of that. "He's given his word not to fight. I think he means it, too."

"I'd rather hope so. Fighting causes such a mess." And that voice, the familiar wry voice of a certain hobbit, cut through all of Thorin's defences like a hot knife through butter. He'd spent most of the way here thinking about what he might say to Bilbo, how he would approach him, yet in the face of it all his plans were for nought. He could barely remember his own name, never mind anything he might have hoped to say or do, and he was left staring.

Bilbo looked… better, for one. He'd regained some of the plumpness that seemed typical of hobbits, and was not as dirty and tired as he'd been for most of the end of their journey. His hair was now in smooth respectable hobbit curls instead of the tangled mess they'd sometimes become on the road, his clothes were in good repair and fit him well, and his feet were clean instead of dirty and road-worn. He didn't look afraid, or even angry, but was watching Thorin with something akin to wariness instead, as though gauging him for a possible reaction.

Thorin had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life.

He must have said that aloud, as a flush suddenly took over Bilbo's face, and Kíli actually snickered. "Yes, well, clearly you've been on the road too long if you've gotten a heat stroke." And that was just unfair. Here was Thorin, doing his best to compliment his hobbit, and instead he got his sincerity questioned.

"I mean it, for the record." And, well, at least he'd said something, that was clearly better than standing there dumbfounded and staring at Bilbo as though he'd taken leave of his wits entirely. "Before we get too deep into discussion about that, though, I'd rather like someone to tell me just what is going on here." Because he was starting to get a bad feeling about the whole mess, not that he'd ever been particularly cheerful about it.

"You know I left with Ori." And yes, Thorin had known that, though he still wasn't entirely clear just why Ori had chosen to accompany Bilbo. "Only, instead of heading to Ered Luin as he had planned to, Ori chose to stay with me instead."

"Well, Nori will be happy to hear that, at least. I'd imagine he'll rather like to see his brother again." Assuming Ori was still here, after all. Clearly Ori had something to do with whatever was the issue here, but Thorin didn't think he was dead at least, not if Bilbo looked so calm about the whole matter.

"I'd assume so. From what I understand, he was rather reluctant to see Ori go in the first place." Bilbo paused. Kíli had moved at some point, coming to stand beside Bilbo. They were both eyeing Thorin as though they weren't sure if he was an ally or an enemy. "Not that he had much of a choice, of course, since Ori had a rather good reason for leaving."

"And I'm imagining you know that reason, then." He also rather suspected this had to do with Kíli's little oath.

"Ori was pregnant." Kíli spoke now, his voice quiet. "He only barely knew at the time, but when Bilbo made to leave Ori decided to join him. He wasn't sure his child would be safe in the mountain."

"And why wouldn't he?" Ori had been pregnant? Thorin hadn't been aware that he had even been seeing anyone. And if he'd known of it by the time Bilbo left, it had to have started some time before they even reached the mountain. Except that would mean the other parent was one of the Company. And given how many of them were either married or had their eyes on someone else, there weren't very many choices, except…

It hit him all of a sudden like a bucket of cold water, with a flood of memories of shared smiles and furtive glances. Thorin remembered seeing the two together sometimes, on the road, heads bent together in some shared secret, remembered brief touches and whispered conversations. He hadn't thought much of it then, had imagined it might be some youthful crush that would either flourish or wither in time. Clearly it had chosen to flourish much sooner than he'd thought, if what they were saying was true.

"Looks like you figured it out." Kíli nodded. "Ori had Fíli's child, and has been raising her here with Bilbo's help. Except they couldn't be sure that she'd be safe if Ori returned to the mountain, not without either you or Fíli giving your word on it."

"A child." This couldn't be right, could it? Surely he was only imagining it. "Fíli has an heir?"

"And a pretty little one he does, too." Kíli glanced over his shoulder, to what Thorin imagined was the part of the house where the child was at the moment. "I told Ori both he and the babe would be safe, but he wouldn't take my word on it. And, well, I can't exactly blame him for it, considering how stupid my brother has been about showing his feelings. Which seems to rather run in the family, by the way." He lifted his eyebrows, and no, Thorin was not going to have this talk with Kíli of all people, not here and now.

"We're not discussing that right now." That was a conversation for him to have with Bilbo, hopefully alone, once everything else had been settled. "I'd say there's something much more urgent to address, if indeed Ori is fearful of my reaction to his child." A child! Oh, he hadn't even imagined Mahal would smile so on his line, not for a long while still.

"You promise not to harm them, then?" And now it was Bilbo whose gaze pained Thorin, but then, he had even less reason than most to trust Thorin in such matters. "You won't hurt either of them, or try to take the child from Ori?"

"I'd sooner take my own life." And he would, too, would not allow any harm to come to the two if only he could help it. "I swear it, Bilbo, if you have any faith in my word at all. Not that I blame you if you don't, I haven't given you much reason to believe me, but the madness is long gone and my word is true." He shook his head. "I'll take any oath you want me to, if that will reassure him."

"Will you swear it on the Arkenstone?" Well. Bilbo had always known where to strike just to sting him the deepest.

"I will, if you ask that of me, but I'm afraid that oath would hold little weight at this point."

"And why is that?" Bilbo lifted his eyebrows. "I rather thought that was dearer to you than anything else." And again, a deep hit, one that almost left Thorin gasping as though he'd been physically struck.

"Hardly the dearest, considering that I have left it behind." Well. He supposed this was the best he could do to convince them of his sincerity right now. "The Arkenstone is the king's jewel. I may still be king, for all that I have left the throne in the care of others, but the jewel will not be mine for much longer."

"What do you mean?" Kíli was frowning, now, looking puzzled and worried both. Well. Thorin supposed he wasn't being awfully clear right now.

"I plan to abdicate." He hadn't said it aloud before, not like this, but he supposed this was as good a time as any. "At first I was going to wait another year or two until things settled down; then, once we got your message I was going to let everyone know once I got back from solving whatever problem you had here, given how I would have little authority to act if I'd already given up my position. But I suppose it's just as well that I let you know now, so you won't ask for oaths that would hold no meaning."

"But — what would you do then?" Kíli seemed baffled, as though Thorin had just announced he was planning to paint the sky green. "I mean, why would you not be king? What else are you going to do?"

"I suspect we can discuss the details of that later." He glanced at Bilbo, hoping to show some of his feelings in his gaze. "Let's just say I was rather planning to travel west and set camp outside a certain green door until its owner either forgave me or sent me on my way."

"Well! There's no need for such theatrics, here." Bilbo looked a little flustered, though then Thorin suspected he'd been rather unfair in his little pronouncement, not giving Bilbo time to prepare himself. "And in any case, Ori is rather more important right now."

"Oh, I agree. As I said, I will take any oath you require of me, or any that he might require instead." He shook his head. "I understand why he would worry; I've heard of enough shady dealings among nobility, and know enough of his background, that it would make sense for him to worry about his safety, particularly given that Fíli hadn't yet gotten around to proposing courtship to him. But for all that we may sometimes be dense about our feelings, the line of Durin has never stooped so low as to punish a child for the deeds of their parents, mistake or no." And he rather suspect there was no mistake here, unplanned or not. Fíli's longing for Ori was clear enough even to Thorin, and he was far from an expert in such matters.

"I hope you are right, then." At last, Bilbo nodded, a slow gesture that still seemed wary, but Thorin was going to take what he could get. He turned to call over his shoulder. "Tauriel! Ori!"

After a moment, one of the doors down the hallway opened, just a little at first before being opened properly. Tauriel looked out first, then stepped into the hallway, easily ducking under the low doorway. Clearly she was just as accustomed to the place as Kíli was. After her came the familiar form of Ori, small as only a young dwarf who did not fight for his living might be, holding someone even smaller in his arms.

Thorin made a sound even he couldn't describe, something between a surprised cry and a sigh of wonder. Ori was holding a child, a tiny little dwarfling settled comfortably at his hip, and the resemblance to both Ori and his older nephew was clear enough at a glance. Thorin stepped forward, only for Ori to shrink back, looking fearful.

Well. There were no two ways around it, really.

"I mean you no harm, and never would, any of you." Thorin paused, then lifted one hand to show his peaceful intentions, reaching his other for his sword. Kíli and Tauriel both tensed, hands reaching for their own weapons, while Bilbo and Ori stepped back. Thorin tried not to feel too wounded by this, slowly drawing Orcrist from its sheath before setting it down on the floor.

"Do you swear it?" Ori's voice trembled, but he met Thorin's gaze steadily, almost defiantly. Thorin knew the feeling he could see in the little scribe's eyes all too well, had felt it many times over the years, whenever he had cause to fear for his nephews. "Do you swear that she is safe?"

"I swear it on my honour, and my ancestors' honour." Thorin shook his head. "May Mahal himself strike me down if I ever become so lowly as to harm a child."

Ori hesitated for a moment, still, but then stepped forward, Tauriel shadowing his every move. Thorin walked forward as well, leaving Orcrist behind. He was vaguely aware that Kíli fell into step behind him, but tried not to pay too much attention to it.

The child's resemblance to Fíli was even clearer from close up. If Thorin had found any reason to doubt their word, which he didn't, he would have been convinced by the child's blue eyes alone, so similar to his own. She was small and shy, but looked at him bravely enough while leaning against her bearer's chest.

"What's her name?" Thorin could only whisper. It had been a long time since he'd last seen a dwarven child this small, and longer still since that child had belonged to his family. The last one had been Kíli, who now stood behind him, taller than even Thorin himself was.

"Nuoli." Ori licked his lips, holding the child closer to himself. "Nuoli, daughter of Ori." Right. He didn't have the right to claim Fíli's name for her, even if Kíli believed his word on the child's parent. "Ah. Kíli has recognised her claim to the throne before him." And yet he didn't sound boasting, not even quietly proud; if anything, this sounded more like a question than a declaration, as though he wasn't sure he truly had the right to that.

Oh, both Thorin and Fíli owed him much more than an apology, for allowing him to fear so.

Thorin met the child's gaze for another moment before he bowed low. "Well met, then, Nuoli, daughter of Ori, heir of my heir. Thorin, son of Thráin, at your service." He straightened, looking at the child, reaching out a hand but not quite touching her. "I welcome you to my line and my house, and recognise your claim as the second heir to the throne and a princess of Durin's line."

There was a moment of silence, now, as though nobody dared to speak quite yet. It was then broken by the door slamming open and two pairs of dwarven feet stomping inside.

"Well, then," declared Nori, and Thorin shook himself out of the reverie he'd allowed himself to fall into. "The word out on the street seems to be Bilbo's had a very nice young dwarf here for quite a while. Where's my baby brother, and do I need to start cutting Durin throats? Would be a pity since I'm rather fond of one of them, as it happens."

Well. Thorin supposed it was still better than the fearful silence of before.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Though the matter with Ori has been solved, Thorin still has things to settle. Ori, in the meantime, has to make a decision on whether he wishes to return to Erebor or not.
> 
> Of course, just getting back to Erebor won't solve everything, as they soon realise. They still need to talk with Fíli -- and Fíli has to make up his own mind on some important things.
> 
> In the end, Bilbo is reminded that dwarves are, indeed, rather complicated creatures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was putting this chapter off forever because I couldn't get around to colouring the picture that goes with it. In the end, I decided to just post it with the lineart instead.

"So." Bilbo handed Thorin a cup of tea, then sat down in an armchair across from him with his own. "I do believe we should talk."

"I think so, yes." Thorin glanced to the side, where the others were all gathered around Nuoli. Nori had claimed his right to get his hands on his niece, one that nobody had truly been able to question or challenge, and had been holding her ever since while Dwalin seemed unsure whether to poke at the child or run away. Ori watched the whole situation with something that Thorin could only identify as relief mixed with amusement on his face, and even Kíli and Tauriel had relaxed enough that they didn't seem about to go for their weapons at the slightest hint of trouble. Though then, Thorin rather thought anything and anyone would have been quite lucky to escape with their lives if they as much as looked at the child the wrong way, with the way Nori seemed to have utterly fallen in love with her right away.

Thorin understood the feeling. He certainly remembered well enough the moment he had first held Fíli in his arms, himself.

"Kíli has told rather fanciful tales about your feelings for me." Thorin resisted the urge to groan. Of course Kíli would have made a point of correcting his mistakes, as Kíli would have seen them. "I'm rather curious as to how much if it is true."

"I cannot answer that unless I know what he has told you." Bilbo opened his mouth, but Thorin halted him by lifting his hand. "No, don't bother. I think I can guess well enough." He cleared his throat, then took on his best imitation of Kíli's voice. "Oh, Uncle's been brooding ever since you left! He's head over heels in love, that he is, he's positively pining after you!"

"That seems to be the general gist of it, yes." Bilbo's lips twitched into something of a smile. "So, have you?"

"Brooded or pined?" Thorin shrugged. "Both, I guess." As Bilbo blinked, he snorted. "Please. I've had plenty of time to think about my feelings, and little reason to deny them when all I would gain is more sorrow. Yes, I have been pining. I've missed you since the moment you walked out of the mountain, and every day apart has only made the pain grow worse. When Kíli's message arrived, I jumped at the chance to follow you, because otherwise I would not have had the excuse to do so, not when I had a duty to my mountain. It's all for the better, anyway. A king is hardly any use for his people when his heart has been torn from his chest and taken all this way across the land."

"You, ah. You're speaking strong words." Bilbo's gaze dropped to his tea, almost untouched still.

"They're true ones, though. I will tell you in as many ways as you desire, that will not change what is in my heart." Thorin took a little sip of his tea. He might have preferred an ale for this discussion, but he supposed it was best to approach this with a sober heart and mind alike. "When you left, you took my heart with you, because I had already given it to you. A dwarf may only do so once, and it is for all our life. If you do not forgive me, if you cast me out, I will leave, but I will never love again in all my days."

"You already cast me out once, though."

"That was done in madness. I make no excuse for it, because it was still me who wronged you, and I do not deserve to be forgiven for such crimes, but I want to tell you I never would have done so in my right mind." Thorin shook his head. "I was blinded by the gold and my madness, or I never would have done anything so foolish. Truly, until that moment, I had seen you as my brightest treasure, the thing I most wanted to protect." He fixed his gaze on Bilbo until Bilbo looked up to meet his gaze. "I did give you the mithril mail, even when I could not let go of anything else."

"Ah, yes." Bilbo licked his lips, looking uncertain. "Kíli and Ori told me that it's quite expensive."

"Expensive! It's worth a king's ransom and then some. Why, since Moria was lost, I'd say it's worth more than the entire Shire and all that's to be found within." Thorin almost enjoyed Bilbo's shocked look, but not quite. He could not truly bring himself to take pleasure in it, not until he knew whether Bilbo could forgive him. "Again, I make no excuse, nor do you owe me any allegiance or even a kind word for a gift freely given. I only wish to show you that even in my madness, until its darkest depths, I saw you as the most precious thing I had."

"Until you threatened to kill me."

"I also threatened to kill Dwalin, if he continued to question me." Not one of his proudest moments, that. "He has been my best friend ever since we were wee dwarflings. And yet, even he is not as dear to my heart as you are."

"You're being awfully open about all this."

"It's the way of dwarves, and of Durin's line in particular. We keep our secrets close, but we speak our mind and our heart alike. I didn't speak before, and you left my side; if I have any hope of gaining your trust again, then I will speak my feelings as plainly as you wish me to."

"You love me, then." Bilbo's tone was not that of a question, yet his eyes betrayed some uncertainty.

"As fiercely as a dwarf can love anything." He almost felt as though he should have hesitated more, should have paused before saying such words, but he'd been thinking of this long enough. Bilbo deserved to hear the truth, and Thorin had kept it to himself long enough. "We believe that Mahal splits each of us in two before we are even given breath. To find our other half is the highest calling of any dwarf who has been given the chance to walk in this world, though some of us may choose never to pursue that call. For the longest time I believed I would never find mine, that perhaps they were already lost to fire or blade, my one chance at happiness robbed from me before it ever came to me." He allowed himself a small smile. "And then I met a stubborn little hobbit who set my heart on fire from the first time we spoke."

"Surely you didn't think that highly of me then." Was Bilbo blushing? Why, yes, Thorin rather believed he was.

"Perhaps I didn't, not then. Even so, I knew there was something to you that was special, something important. And then you followed us, proved your strength and your loyalty, and I grew to see the beauty in your form and your heart both."

"Well, now I know you're teasing me!" Bilbo huffed, though the blush remained on his cheeks. "I know very well I'm not what a dwarf would call beautiful."

"You are to me, though." Thorin smiled, still. "I want to run my hand through your hair and see if I can braid it, and to see that lovely blush of yours, and the way your eyes shine when you're angry with me. I want to see you smile for me, and to see you clad in the blue of my house as your hair shines in the light of torches. I want to dress you in velvets and jewels and make you shine, and I want to see you in your ordinary little hobbit clothes and know that you left behind the comforts of your home for the sake of my quest, and above all else I want to see you safe and happy, because nothing is more beautiful to me than your face in a peaceful smile."

"Oh, just shut it." Bilbo tried to hide his blush behind his tea cup, not that Thorin was going to be fooled by such tactics. "I'm not going to forgive you just because you speak pretty words, you know."

"Oh, I know you're not. You're too sensible for that. I should work more to earn your forgiveness, if indeed you might ever give it to me." Thorin shook his head. "I know I don't have your trust yet, Bilbo, nor do I deserve it. However, I'm willing to do whatever it takes, however long it takes, to show you that I would not hurt you in my right mind, not as long as I live."

"And is that why you were planning to abdicate?" Ah, yes, ever so sharp. "To show me you'd do whatever it took to be with me?"

"That was the main reason, yes." Thorin paused. "I also, well. I've been leading my people since I was young, never got the chance to forget my duty to them. Even before the worm came, I had to grow up under strict rules, with my grandfather's madness getting worse each day and my father growing maudlin in his shadow. I've never had true freedom, not since I was old enough to understand what that meant. Now I have secured the mountain for my people, have a stable throne to leave to Fíli in his turn. Once everything has settled, well, I hope it's my turn to have some freedom at last."

"And you were going to spend that freedom by camping out in my front yard and begging for forgiveness." There was a hint of disbelief in Bilbo's voice. That was all right. Thorin would convince him, yet.

"Oh, no. It would be awfully rude to invade your garden like that." Thorin gave Bilbo his most proper expression, the one he had learnt early on for dealing with the court and its various hazards. "I would only have been outside your gate, singing songs of longing for you each day and guarding your sleep each night, until you either forgave me or told me to get lost."

"That might not have been right away. Well, not my telling you to get lost, anyway. You do have a rather nice singing voice." Bilbo paused for a moment, sipping at his tea, but Thorin got the feeling he wasn't supposed to interject just yet. "And if I had forgiven you? What would you have done then? Or had you not thought that far?"

"Oh, I did have plans for that as well." Well, he had come this far, hadn't he? And Bilbo seemed to be in an approving mood, for all that he clearly hadn't yet grown entirely accepting of Thorin's reassurances. Setting his tea cup aside with care, Thorin then slid out of his seat, until he was on his knees on the floor. It perhaps wasn't the best possible position, and his leg ached a bit, but these things had to be done properly.

"Thorin?" Bilbo blinked, looking startled. "What are you…"

"Bilbo, son of Bungo." He lifted his voice, just enough to gain the attention of the others. This ought to have witnesses, whether or not he was successful. "I've come to you to offer my apology for how I have wronged you. To forgive me or not is your choice, and to accept me or not is your choice as well. All I can do is present my offer, and hope that you will look upon it with acceptance." He reached for his pocket, for the little package that he'd kept safe through their entire journey west, wrapped in paper to keep it from harm. "I would present this to you, for you to keep or cast away, to show you my feelings for you."

Bilbo still seemed unsettled, but he accepted the little package from Thorin's hand. As he opened it, his eyes widened, before he frowned. "This… what is this?"

"Uncle, you didn't." Kíli breathed in disbelief as he got closer, leaning over Bilbo's shoulder to look at Thorin's offering.

"It's the least I can offer." After all, he had already long since lost his heart to this strange little creature.

"But not this! This is just too much!"

"Kíli." Bilbo frowned, looking down at the coil of braided hair, sealed at each end with gold. "What is this?"

"It is a courtship braid, woven from my own hair." He supposed he owed Bilbo an explanation, if he was going to use the dwarven ways. "I've cut it away and sealed it, so I might present it to you."

"It's the strongest proposal we have, especially in front of witnesses." Kíli eyed Thorin with a disbelieving look. "It means that if you reject him now, not only will he never ask you again, he'll never have another."

"I'll never want another." That much he knew for a fact. "If you cast me aside, I will leave and not bother you any further. If you accept me, I will live out my years by your side and show you every bit of affection and devotion my heart is capable of. You are my One, the other half of my heart and soul. I will love you all my life, and I will love you after my death, and I will love you when we are all awakened to see the glory of Arda remade." He paused, drawing a deep breath. "This I swear, as Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór, king of Durin's folk and King Under the Mountain, or may Mahal take my life as one unworthy to share in his gifts."

"You, ah." Bilbo wet his lips, seemingly fumbling for words. "You don't think you're overdoing it a little?"

"This is how I feel. This is what I came here to do." Thorin lowered his head. "You do not need to answer right away. All I ask is that you let me know your answer before I am to return to Erebor, so I might know whether I am to come back or not."

"Oh, Thorin." There was a hand in his hair, now, impossibly gentle, running through a few free locks before it came to the side of his face, tilting his head up to look at Bilbo again. "You really are impossible, aren't you?"

"I am a dwarf." He met Bilbo's gaze, now, trying not to feel too hopeful at the sight of a small smile on the hobbit's face. "We are a simple folk, and our love is even fiercer than our anger. I thought you might know that by now."

"Oh, you dwarves will never cease to amaze me, no matter how prepared I think myself." Bilbo shook his head. "I don't need time to think, Thorin. I've had time for years."

"I see." Don't hope, Thorin. Don't have any hope. "And what is your answer, then?"

"Of course I accept you, you confounded dwarf." Bilbo's hand brushed along his cheek, now. "I'm not quite so cruel as to let you return to your people heartbroken, goodness knows how insufferable you would be."

"Ah. I'm not sure that's a suitable reason to accept my offer."

"Then how about this?" Bilbo looked him in the eye, steady and sincere. "I stole the Arkenstone, I kept it from you, not because I wanted it but because I feared for you. I feared the madness it might bring to you, feared that madness would drive you to your death. I chose to anger you, and to be cast out, in the vain hope that I might save you by my betrayal, rather than stand by your side until a certain death." Bilbo shook his head, his curls bouncing a little. "It's not the dwarven way, I know that. But I'm a hobbit, and we hobbits are practical folk. I made the hobbit's choice, and chose to betray the one I loved, in the hope that I could keep him safe in my absence."

"You… love me?" Could he be that fortunate?

"Is that not clear enough yet?" Bilbo slid down from his seat, now, coming to kneel in front of Thorin. He reached for Thorin's hands, clasping them, the sealed braid between both of their hands. "You think I left behind my home, followed you on a mad quest and faced a dragon, just because Gandalf asked me to? Oh, no, I wanted to find a home for you, so you could be at peace at last, have that which was stolen from you. I did everything no hobbit has ever done before for the sake of your dream, and, well. I suppose I should have suspected before that this was the case." Bilbo's lips curled up. "Clearly my heart was that of a dwarf, for me to do such foolish things."

"Bilbo." He breathed the word, hardly daring to speak aloud.

"And don't even think about staying here, you blasted old fool. Abdicate if you wish and if Fíli lets you, but go back to Erebor, still. I didn't fight to gain your mountain back only for you to cast it aside. No, I'd rather live out my life in a mountain than keep you here with me. It's not that different from a hill, really, just a little larger." Bilbo clicked his tongue. "I suppose I'll have to make do with a couple of armchairs, those shouldn't be too much trouble to transport, and I'm assuming you have fireplaces already. I'll need a desk, too, but that might be a bit too difficult to haul along, I'll have to get one from Dale or somewhere. I'll have to see what I can do about seeds, and then there's everything else I have to settle, but I think a week, maybe two is all that I need."

"Bilbo?" Ori spoke now, staring at the two of them along with everyone else. Only little Nuoli didn't seem to pay attention, back in her father's arms as Thorin glanced up. "Bilbo, what are you talking about?"

"Isn't it clear?" Bilbo nodded and squeezed Thorin's hands one last time before getting up to his feet. "We're going back to Erebor, all of us."

If it took Thorin a little while to get up even as everyone else suddenly started talking all at once, well, he supposed he could be forgiven for feeling the slightest bit stunned over all this.

*

"So." Nori leaned against the wall, watching Ori as he was settling the baby into her crib. "What do you think about all this?"

"About what?" Ori didn't look up at him, eyes locked on his child. Not that Nori could blame him, not really. It was a rather cute child. "About Thorin coming here? I'm relieved, of course. With his support, I don't think I need to fear for either my safety or Nuoli's."

"About going back to Erebor." As though Ori hadn't known. "You don't have to, you know. Just because Bilbo said we'll all go, doesn't mean it's been decided. I can stay with you, too, or we can go to Ered Luin both, if you'd rather not stay here with Bilbo going."

"It's not a bad place, the Shire." Ori lingered at the side of the crib, a thoughtful expression on his face. "But whatever Bilbo may say, a hill and a mountain aren't quite alike at all."

"So, what does that mean?" Because Nori might have been good at reading people, had learnt to be so to stay alive, but with his brothers his skills always seemed to fail. He needed Ori to tell him what he meant, in as clear words as he could. "Do you want to return to Erebor? Or return to Ered Luin? Because I'll go with you, no matter where you wish to go. You've been alone long enough." And, well, there was no need to try to avoid suspicions now that both Thorin and Kíli knew the truth.

"Erebor." Ori drew a deep breath. "It's… it's not my home, you know that. But it could be, perhaps. And in any case, I need to know where I stand with Fíli. Even if he just turns me away, I need to know that, or else I'll spend my whole life wondering."

"And now you know you don't have to fear for your life, at least." Nori nodded slowly. It made sense, really. Of course Ori would want the truth now that he knew he would not be in danger asking for it. He'd always been that way, ever since he'd been just a curious little dwarfling. If it had been Nori, he probably would have fled from the problem, but Ori had always been too brave for his own good.

"Exactly." Ori's hands tightened around the edge of the crib. "I… even if he won't have me, even if I was just a distraction on the road and nothing more, I want to at least see if he'll acknowledge her. Privately, if he won't make her his heir. I just… I want her to know her sire."

"Which we never did." Not that it mattered to Nori, not anymore. There had been a time when it had bothered him, when he'd been ashamed of his lack of father and lack of line, but he'd long since taught himself better. He was Nori of the line of Ri, and if that wasn't enough for someone, he would set them straight. "I get that, I do. And if that's what you want to do, then off to Erebor we go. Just, I want it to be your decision, not just you going along with whatever someone else says."

"Oh, no. I'm done following others so much, and Bilbo knows that too." Ori shook his head. "No matter what he might have said about us all going, if I told him I wished to stay, or go elsewhere, he wouldn't try to push me. But, well, he's right that it's the best thing to do right now. My safety is assured, as is Nuoli's. I want to know the truth, and this is my best chance of finding it."

"As you wish." And yet, Ori's shoulders were hunched. "You love Fíli, don't you." He didn't bother to ask.

"More than anything." Ori's voice was so soft, Nori only barely heard it. "No, that's not true. If that were true, I would have remained. But even the one thing I do love more than him is only here because of him, and for that I love him all the more."

"If he doesn't love you back, he's a fool." Nori finally walked closer, setting a hand on Ori's shoulder. "Can I tell you something? Something not even Dori knows?" Ori glanced at him, looking surprised, but nodded. Nori drew a deep breath, now. He'd been thinking of doing this for a while now, had planned on it even before he'd found Ori under Kíli's protection and heard of Thorin's words to the child. No reason for him to hesitate now. "Not long before we left Erebor, I lost Dwalin's child." Ori gasped and seemed about to say something, but Nori shook his head. "No, don't bother. It was no great tragedy or cause for sorrow; I hadn't even known I was bearing until I suddenly wasn't. I could hardly mourn the loss of something I hadn't even known I might have."

"Even so, I can't imagine it would have been a pleasant experience."

"Oh, it wasn't, not as such. I felt like shit for days, and whatever I might say, I'm not sure it was just because of the physical side of it." Nori glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the sitting room. "Dwalin, though… as soon as he heard I was sick, he rushed to my side like the big bumbling bear he is. And when he found out just what ailed me, he didn't look relieved for a moment, like one might expect of someone who just found out they wouldn't be saddled with an unwanted bastard after all. No, he seemed heartbroken at first, and then gathered himself to support me in my ordeal, as it were."

"And… why are you telling me this?" Ori looked down at his baby, no doubt imagining all sorts of horrible things of what could have happened before she was even brought into the world. Nori almost felt sorry for putting such things into his mind.

"Because I'm starting to think not all nobles are alike." And that was a revelation indeed, for one as doubting and suspicious as he was. "Oh, I don't fault you for your decisions, or your fear of what you couldn't know. But between that, and what I have now seen of Kíli and Thorin, I'm rather hoping that your story will have a happier end than our mother ever held hope for."

"Kíli keeps telling me that Fíli loves me." Ori sighed. "I'm trying not to be too hopeful, or it'll just hurt all the worse. But… I'm thinking I might share a mountain with him, at least."

"Aye. Even if he were enough of a fool to reject you, you wouldn't be the first dwarf to linger where you lost your love, nor would you be the last." Nori paused a moment, then reached his arms around Ori. He hadn't embraced his brother often in recent years, during the journey after some close brushes and after the battle, and finally just before Ori had ridden out with Bilbo to flee from the one he loved. It felt right just then, though, drawing his brother close for some comfort as though he'd still been a little dwarfling who hadn't yet realised the world was unfair. "Dori will be glad to see you, and Nuoli. He's been quite hoping for some news from you."

"I didn't know how to send them without anyone finding out." Ori leaned into him. "Ah. If Thorin is going to inform Erebor of his return, maybe I could pass along a note to Dori. Include a drawing of Nuoli, or something. If Thorin sends it to Balin, I'm sure it will end up in Dori's hands and no one else's."

"Aye, that might be a good idea. No reason to make him wait until we arrive for any news." Mahal knew he'd worried himself sick many times over already. "You've a fine child for yourself, there."

"I know." He heard a smile in Ori's voice, one that he should have known to be a bad sign even before the little brat continued. "So. What is this about you and Dwalin?"

"Got myself caught all proper-like." Not that he was actually caught, of course. Nothing like that. He could leave any time he liked. "I was trying to get information, actually, to gauge how the royal family might react if they found out the truth. And, well, Thorin wanted me to be his Spymaster, so working with Dwalin was more or less required anyway. So, being the very efficient and sensible dwarf I am, I thought I'd break two stones with one swing and use him to get a feel of the nobles."

"And somehow this lead to a situation where you had Dwalin's child to lose."

Nori shrugged. It wasn't like he'd wasted his time being ashamed of something in decades. "What can I say? He's not a bad one to look at, and knows what he's doing. Not that terrible a character, either, I could do a lot worse really. I rather think he wants to court me, Balin certainly wishes he would, but I'm quite happy to wait another year or three. If he's still of a similar mind then, I might take his braids, but for now I'm content."

"You aren't hiding it, though." And oh, Ori had always been observant, more so than people gave him credit for. "Not if you were willing to joke about it upon your arrival without even knowing who all might hear."

"It's hard to keep a secret when we've been spotted coming out of each other's rooms on a regular basis." Nori finally let go of Ori, stepping to his side instead to look down at the slumbering Nuoli. He could see the Ri features on the small face, all right, but also hints of Durin's line. There was no saving that nose, for one thing. "It's another reason why I think they might be different from the nobles our mother knew, and why I was quite prepared to bring Dwalin along with me if I needed to find you in Ered Luin. He's never tried to hide me or his dalliances with me, never showed any shame or embarrassment. If he can be open about it, the king's best friend and mentor to the princes, and all Thorin or his sister ever did was smirk and tease him, then I doubt anyone else is going to make much of a fuss over Fíli's tumbles with you."

"Except my affair with him had rather more permanent consequences."

"And yet you don't regret a thing." That much was clear. Even if he hadn't heard Ori saying just that before, the way he looked down at his little baby would have made it obvious. "So, try not to worry overly much, little brother. We'll go back to Erebor, all of us, and chances are Fíli will be glad to call your baby his, and if he's not an absolute fool he'll be groveling for your forgiveness soon as he sees you. And then Dori's going to fuss over you and the baby, and Thorin will shower his hobbit with more kingly gifts than Bilbo knows what to do with, and my niece's going to grow up to be a princess and you will lose yourself in the royal library for a decade or two and everyone's going to be happy."

"And you?" Ori glanced at him with a small smile. "What do you do in this little dream you've spun together?"

"Me? I'll do what I've always done, sneaking and lying and snooping about, except this time I'll do it at the king's orders. And maybe in a few years if neither Dwalin nor I have grown bored of our game I might consider some new braids." Nori paused, his eyes drifting back to the baby. She was so very small, for all that Ori assured him she'd been much smaller before, and so very, very vulnerable. "Maybe next time I have his child, I'll be allowed to keep it."

This time it was Ori who hugged him, but that was fine. Nobody was going to tell.

And if that night he drew closer than usual to Dwalin in the bed and room they shared at Bilbo's insistence, really now he could spare two more rooms and no he would not hear of his guests wandering off to an inn of all places, well, Dwalin wasn't going to tell, either.

*

"Master Dori?"

"Hm?" Dori looked up from his work, managing a small smile as he saw Balin standing at the door of his workroom. He still wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the various members of the royal family, but Nori had grown close to Dwalin before they left, which in turn meant Dori had been in some contact with Balin. And, well, Balin seemed reasonable enough for a noble, enough so that Dori didn't want to come across as rude. "Ah, good afternoon. How can I help you?"

"We received a message from Thorin this morning." Which could have been bad news, but Balin was smiling, so Dori settled for being cautiously hopeful for the time being. "They are setting out from the Shire soon, and while their journey might get delayed by the weather, he expects they will be back before the end of the summer."

"That's good to hear." Dori nodded. "And Nori will still be with him, I assume?"

"Aye. The message wasn't long, but according to Thorin, he'll be returning with everyone he left with and then some. Which I'm hoping means at least Kíli and Tauriel, and possibly a certain little hobbit." Balin nodded, then seemed to remember something. "Ah, and this came along with the letter." He reached into his sleeve and drew out a scroll, seal still intact on the ribbon encircling it. Stepping closer, he handed it over to Dori.

Dori murmured his thanks and took the offered scroll. It had his name on it in Nori's scratchy letters, but the seal was unfamiliar. He could make an educated guess, though, with the two ornate B's in the middle. Clearly his brother had at least made it to Bag End once again. Trying not to be too hopeful about the contents of the message, he broke the seal, opening the scroll.

He hadn't expected a long letter, not if it indeed came from Nori's hand. He might have still hoped for more than the one line that was written at the top, except it said everything he could have wished to hear.

"Guess who's coming home, uncle?"

Right there underneath the words was a picture he instantly recognised to be drawn in Ori's familiar hand, the lines swift and easy as always, a stunning likeness of someone he had never seen in his life. Even so, he could almost imagine the real thing from the picture in front of him, could almost feel the softness of the baby curls and the warmth of the rounded cheeks. It was a baby, the most beautiful baby he'd seen ever since Ori had been in the cradle himself, if even then, and Dori found tears rising to his eyes despite himself.

As he straightened out the last bit of the roll, he realised there were a couple of more words underneath the picture. "Nuoli, daughter of Ori," they proclaimed, a bold enough declaration he had to believe things had been sorted out with Kíli and Thorin. How Ori would have ended up meeting them if he was in Ered Luin, Dori wasn't sure, but clearly Ori felt safe if he dared send such a message along with Thorin's missive.

Ori was coming home. And not just Ori, but also the most beautiful little child Dori had seen in his entire life.

"Thank you," he murmured, and he wasn't even sure who he was thanking, Balin for bringing the message or Ori for sending it or Mahal for allowing all this to happen. Not that it mattered, anyway. All that mattered was that Ori was coming home with his little daughter.

If Dori was crying now, well, Balin was tactful enough not to mention it.

*

"Your Highness?" The familiar voice drew Fíli's attention away from the papers he had been going through, as welcome a distraction as any. "I believe there are guests for you."

"Balin?" Fíli frowned. "It's never a good sign when you call me that outside formal court."

"Now, really, my lad, there's no need to be so suspicious." Right, and Fíli was the son of an orc. He knew perfectly well Balin was hiding something behind that usual smile of his, it was just the particulars that he couldn't quite predict. "It's just that I think you would rather like to see these guests at once, so I needed to get your attention."

"Right. And who would they be, then?" He didn't think he had any official meetings scheduled for today. And if he'd had any, surely Balin would have reminded him?

"I think you should come and see for yourself."

This was apparently all the explanation Balin was going to give, so Fíli stood up from his desk, quickly straightening out his clothes before he followed Balin out of his office. Well. The king's office, to be precise, but he'd more or less taken over the place ever since Thorin had left and made him Regent in the actual king's absence. He figured that if he was doing the work, he might as well enjoy at least some of the perks.

They came to the royal receiving room, but instead of opening the door, Balin stepped aside, clearly waiting for Fíli to step in first. He walked up to the door, settling his hand on the handle, when his ears caught familiar voices from the other side of the door. Familiar, for all that he hadn't heard some of them in more than a year.

Was it really already time for Thorin's party to return?

He was sorely tempted to demand why he hadn't been informed the moment Thorin's approach was noticed, but instead he opened the door, stepping in. That was indeed Thorin, currently talking with Dwalin about something, and Kíli and Tauriel and Nori with them, and was that actually Bilbo? It seemed they'd only just arrived, so he clearly shouldn't be too angry at anyone for not being notified, still in travelling clothes and carrying a bag or two. As he entered, though, everyone fell silent at once, turning to look at him.

Well. That wasn't ominous or anything.

"Fíli." Thorin's voice was serious, much more so than he would have expected from his uncle as a first greeting on his return. "I was hoping to speak with you."

"Thorin?" Fíli frowned, looking at his uncle and then all his companions in turn. Nobody's expression would betray anything, even Kíli looking downright unreadable for all that he usually wore his heart in his sleeve. Clearly something was the matter here, but Fíli wasn't entirely sure what. "What's going on?"

"As the head of the house of Durin, it falls upon me to ask you this." Thorin looked so grave, Fíli rather dreaded what he would hear next. "Nuoli, daughter of Ori, son of Vuori, was born fatherless two weeks before Durin's Day two years ago. She would have been conceived roughly a year before that. Ori has presented his claim that you were the one to father her, and makes no demand but that she might have your name." Thorin stepped aside now, and it wasn't until then that Fíli realised there were more dwarves in the party. "Will you grant him his request?"

It was Ori. Ori was standing behind Thorin, looking just like he had the last time Fíli had seen him yet nothing alike. The familiar features were all there, the soft knitted clothes and red hair, the way he seemed to hunch slightly into himself sometimes. And yet, he was different. His beard had started to come in properly, still short but growing thick instead of the wispy softness from before. His eyes, as they met Fíli's, were filled with a wary look that made Fíli shiver. Ori had never looked at him like that, not ever before. And in his arms…

In his arms Ori held a child. A dwarven child, with wispy beard growing along the sides of her chin, her eyes big and blue under a fringe of golden hair. She was leaning into Ori, clutching at his cowl for security, yet she was looking at Fíli with curiosity in her eyes. He had never seen her before, yet she looked familiar, features from Ori and himself both blending into baby roundness and becoming something entirely new.

His child. He had a child. No, Ori had a child, Ori had born his child, had left Erebor bearing it because whatever it was Fíli had done to wrong him had been so much worse than having his child all alone, away from home and family. Unless, of course, it was the child that had been the wrong thing. The child he had sired and then left Ori to deal with on his own, and Fíli had never even asked after him. Whatever his reasons had been, this was unforgivable.

"I have never shared my bed with another." Ori's voice was quiet, but it wasn't like there was anything to conceal it, not with everyone caught in hushed silence. "My child is yours, if you would know her. Will you grant her that?"

Fíli tried to respond, but instead he felt the words getting caught in his throat. What could he say that would be in any way adequate? Trying to build himself time to recover his wits, he walked closer, very aware of the eyes of everyone on him as they moved aside to allow him forward. Kíli had his hand on the hilt of his sword, Fíli noticed with a kind of hysteric amusement, and he didn't even need to look to know that Nori was reaching for his knives.

Ori was still eyeing him with wariness, but didn't back away as Fíli approached. He still didn't even flinch as Fíli reached out to touch the child, brushing golden locks behind one rounded ear, looking at her blue eyes. "Nuoli, did you say?"

"Aye." Ori's voice was hardly more than a whisper. "That's her name." Her name, which Ori had decided on his own, because he had been all alone. And yet he had chosen to give her the end of Fíli's name instead of his own.

"I see." Fíli drew a deep breath, and, looking at the child, he knew exactly what he had to say. "Blood of my blood, bone of my bone," he murmured, the words very nearly making him choke up. It was an old wording and a traditional one, mostly familiar to him from old stories. In this case he did not want to offer idle words, not when he had already failed both her and Ori in so much. It was still valid, either way. "This morn I woke up a son, tonight I sleep a father. You are my firstborn child and the first heir of my line, and you may claim my name and my line and my house as your own by every right. I am your father and always will be, so swears Fíli, son of Dís daughter of Thráin." He swallowed, somehow finding the voice for the last few words. "So swears Fíli, father of Nuoli."

For a moment there was absolute silence, so complete that Fíli almost wondered if everyone had forgotten to breathe or just him. Then he could almost hear everyone in the room relax as Ori nodded slowly.

"Thank you." Oh, Mahal, were those tears in Ori's eyes? "I — I just want her to have this." The thing that Ori had never had himself, a father and a line that was not that of his mother's. Not that there was any shame in the line of Ri, they were distant kin to the royal line after all, but from what Ori had told him Fíli knew not everyone agreed on that.

"Anything and everything I can offer to either of you is yours, if you just ask. I promise, Ori, neither of you will ever want for anything again, if it's up to me."

Ori seemed about to say something, but then Nuoli made a small sound, drawing his attention. She yawned and snuggled closer to Ori, blinking sleepily at Fíli while mumbling something baby-like.

"You have forged a fine child," Fíli told Ori, unable to keep the soft tone from his voice. "I would congratulate you for such fine work, but I think the only thing I have any right to say to you is that I am sorry."

"She rather forged herself, as it happened. I only provided the fire." Ori ducked his head, not meeting Fíli's gaze. "I, ah. Can we talk about this later? I'd like to see Dori after so long, and I think Nuoli is tired from all our time on the road."

"Ah, right. Of course." He reluctantly stepped back even though all he wanted was to draw both Ori and the baby into his arms and never let go of them again. "Just let me know when you wish to discuss it, please? We have a lot to talk about, I'm sure. Ah, and do feel free to take along whoever you wish." He offered Ori a lopsided smile. "I rather doubt your brothers will be too happy to leave you alone with me right now."

"Unfortunately for my brothers, I happen to make my own decisions." Ori smiled and glanced up at him, and that had to be a good sign, right? "You are right, though, there is a lot for us to talk about. I — I'll let you know." Then, he was walking off in Nori's direction. Fíli somehow managed not to reach after him.

Everyone seemed to be quiet until Ori and Nori had left, and the baby with them. As soon as they were gone, though, everyone started moving and talking at once. Balin came in at last and greeted Dwalin boisterously, and Kíli and Tauriel and Bilbo were talking about something, while Thorin was the first one to actually walk up to Fíli.

"That was well done," Thorin said, a strangely rough quality to his voice. "It's good to see my faith in you wasn't misplaced."

"What else could I have done?" Fíli shook his head, still feeling a bit stunned. "I — that's my child, Thorin! There was nothing else I could do!"

"Not for you, no. And that's precisely why you are such a good dwarf." Thorin drew him into a hug, the kind that always made Fíli feel like a little dwarfling again, before drawing back and patting him on the shoulder. "Come on, then. I'll help you tell your mother. And if you think you can get away with not telling her right away, then you're not as smart as I thought."

Fíli groaned. "She's going to be an absolute pain about this, isn't she?" Not that he didn't deserve it. Clearly he had been an idiot, to leave Ori so unsure of his feelings he hadn't even been certain if Fíli would acknowledge his daughter.

"Don't worry. We've got a couple of things in mind to distract her with if it seems she's getting overly enthusiastic about it."

"You mean like Bilbo?" Who, now that Fíli was paying more attention, seemed to be wearing a very particular braid in his hair. "I see you finally got over your fears, at least."

"That I did, and now it's time for you to get things sorted out. And yes, that will be one of the things." Thorin's eyes flashed with something almost like amusement, enough so to make Fíli dread what was to come. "That, and the small matter of your coronation."

Fíli didn't faint, not exactly, but he liked to think he had every excuse to feel weak for just a moment after all this.

*

Ori rather suspected the only reason he wasn't hugged hard enough to knock the breath out of him as soon as he walked in after Nori was because he was holding Nuoli.

As it was, Dori turned his full crushing attention to Nori instead, embracing him tightly before he turned to Ori. There were tears in his eyes, Ori realised with a start, but at least he was smiling.

"Oh, my little Ori, it's so good to see you again." Dori touched his shoulder, and that was strange, Ori might have expected him to pat his head but not this. Instead of ruffling his hair or anything like that, though, Dori just held onto his shoulder and leaned in to knock their foreheads together, the way he usually did with Nori when they weren't fighting and hadn't actually been out of touch for more than a year. "I've missed you so badly."

"I've missed you, too." Ori managed a small smile. The way Dori acted was strange, sure, but he had to admit he liked it. It almost seemed like his brothers had maybe realised he'd actually grown up at some point. "I've missed everyone, really, but you most of all."

"And this little one I couldn't even miss because I'd never seen her before." Dori looked at Nuoli, now. She was hardly paying any attention, half-dozing against Ori's chest. "Nuoli, wasn't it? She's even more beautiful than in your drawing."

"She is, isn't she?" Ori wasn't about to be modest about his perfect little child, thank you. "Ah, she's rather tired, I think. It's about time for her nap, and there's been a lot more hassle than she's used to, anyway."

"Well, I would think so! She must be quite unfamiliar with being around so many people, being on the road for so long." Dori stepped back, now, and Ori could practically see him shift to the fussing mode. "Come in, come in, all of you, put down your bags. Is this all you have? I'd have thought you'd have more things with you!"

"Ah, some of our luggage is still with the ponies. Someone should be bringing it all here shortly." Ori adjusted Nuoli on his arm, taking off his cowl. "We were more or less herded into the royal reception room as soon as we arrived, didn't really get the chance to take care of all that."

"Oh?" Dori gave him a shrewd glance as he all but pushed them all further into the rooms that Nori had informed Ori were technically Dori's but were quite big enough for two grown brothers and a baby. "So am I to assume that you've met His Highness by now?"

"You don't have to sound like that." Ori sighed, petting Nuoli's hair as she snuggled closer to him. "Yes, as a matter of fact, we did meet Fíli. And he's aware of the situation, too."

"And how did that go?" Dori gave him a sharp glance before motioning toward a table with a few chairs around it. Apparently they had reached the kitchen, judging by the cabinets and the stove to one side of the room. "Sit down, both of you, I'm sure I have some food at hand and you must be famished. You too, Nori, I'm not letting you sneak off to meet Dwalin before I've gotten the whole story out of you."

"I wasn't going anywhere," Nori lied smoothly, taking off his cloak and draping it over the back of a chair. "But yes, little Ori spoke with his prince."

"Fíli acknowledged her." And for all that both Kíli and Thorin had been telling him that would be the case, Ori still couldn't help but feel a bit stunned at that. "More than that, he did so in full, called her his heir and everything."

"Aye. Took a downright old-fashioned approach to it, he did." Nori sat down next to Ori, leaning back in his seat. "Probably would've proposed as well if Ori hadn't been in a hurry to get to you."

"That's not true." Ori tried not to flush, but it was hard. That was just ridiculous! "He wouldn't do that when we haven't even seen each other in years!"

"But I notice you don't deny it otherwise." Nori smirked. "Wouldn't that be the thing? Our baby brother as the prince consort!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Dori was still looking through the cabinets, before he returned with some bread and cheese. "Here, you can get started with these while I go and get the little one into bed. Then you can tell me everything in detail while I make you something nice and hot."

"Ah, if you're sure." Ori still felt a bit reluctant to just hand her over, but then, if he couldn't trust Dori to take good care of her, he couldn't really trust anyone. Dori had been the one to care for him when he'd been a baby, after all. "Be careful, though, she tends to roll in her sleep. If you put her in a big bed you should put pillows or something around her so she doesn't fall off."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Dori smiled. "I ordered a crib as soon as I knew you were bringing her. You moved around in your sleep all the time as a child, I figured she would be much the same."

For all that he trusted Dori without a doubt, Ori managed to fret the whole time until Dori returned, now quite baby-free. "Did she settle down all right? She can sometimes be tricky even when she's sleepy."

"Fast asleep, I promise. I left the door open so we'll hear if she makes a fuss." With this, Dori started fussing about the stove, pulling out more food from the cabinets and what Ori presumed was an ice box. "So! Tell me everything, and I do mean everything since you first left. And no, Nori, you're still not allowed to leave, I'm going to feed you properly and you're going to tell me your part of the story before you sneak off."

Ori told him everything, starting from when he first left the mountain with Gandalf and Bilbo, told him about confiding in Bilbo and how he ended up living in the Shire instead of a mountain, of how he had first fallen in love with the tiny life in his arms and all the days that followed. He told Dori about the fears, too, of how he'd thought he wouldn't be good enough a father or couldn't protect her as he should, how he had feared everything and anything that could possibly threaten his little family and how much Bilbo had helped him. Neither of his brothers interrupted him for once, except to ask a question here or there, never telling him how he should have done something differently or how it would have been better for him to act in a more sensible manner. He told them about how Kíli had arrived and immediately sworn his protection, how he had sent the message that spurred Thorin to action, and then Nori joined in to fill in bits and pieces about the circumstances of Thorin's arrival and everything that followed.

By the time they got to the point where they arrived in Erebor and Thorin sent Balin to get Fíli, they were all eating the food Dori had prepared, and Ori was starting to feel quite tired. Not that today had truly been that straining in terms of travel and such, but recounting all that was rather draining.

"So Fíli wishes to talk with you." Dori nodded. "And what do you plan to talk about?"

"I'm not sure. Depends on what he has to say, I suppose." Ori shrugged. "He's acknowledged Nuoli, that's the important thing. If he wishes to start our relationship anew, if I can even call it that… well. Then I wouldn't be opposed to it, I don't think. It would probably make things less awkward if he wishes to spend time with Nuoli, anyway."

"Right." What, Dori wasn't immediately questioning his decisions? Clearly something was very badly wrong, here. "And what if he wants the relationship but no connection to Nuoli beyond his name?"

"If he thinks that's a possibility, he's got another think coming." Ori said this firmly, not wanting to leave any doubt about the matter. "Nuoli comes first. If he thinks there's any chance of having me without her being in the picture, then he's more of an idiot than I ever suspected. However, I really don't think that's what he's after. He — he seemed genuine, saying he wanted to give us both what we need."

"I do hope you are right, then." Dori nodded. "Nori? What's your take on the matter?"

"I suspect he's right, oddly enough." Nori shrugged. "Kíli and Thorin both have been acting downright decent about all this, and I've no reason to think Fíli would be any different from his kin. I agree that he seemed genuine in his promises. Surprised, sure, this must be a bit of a shock to him, but from what I saw I don't think he was just lying or trying to keep up appearances."

"Well, if you say that, I suppose I can believe it." Dori nodded again, then glanced at Ori. "If that's what you want, then we'll support that. You are a grown dwarf, and if you think you can trust him and Nori can't offer any arguments against it, I don't think I have any right to interfere."

"I don't think you would have been so ready to say that just a few years ago." Not that he wasn't happy about it, he was, but it was still surprising.

"Yes, well, it seems to me you have done a lot of growing up in the last few years." Dori smiled a bit. "There's this strange thing about parenting, though I suspect you won't notice it for many years, yet. If you do it right, the end result is that you won't be needed anymore."

"I'll always need you, Dori." Had needed him so many times during these last few years, and while he hadn't been alone by any means, he'd still often wished for his big brother to be there.

"Perhaps, but as a friend and a brother, not as the dwarf who raised you." Dori reached over the table to touch his hand. "You are a parent, now. It wouldn't be right for me to continue to treat you as a child."

"Thank you." Ori grasped Dori's hand and squeezed it, then barely managed to stifle a yawn. "Ah. Sorry, it's just… it's been a long day, even though it's not that late yet."

"Of course." Dori chuckled. "Just head to the room with the open door, it's where Nuoli is sleeping. I've had it prepared for you two, though of course you're welcome to make changes."

"Right now the only thing I'm going to change is the fact that I'm not sleeping there just yet." Ori stood up, smiling at his brothers. "It's good to be home, you know."

"It's good to have you home."

Ori headed out of the kitchen, vaguely hearing Dori saying something about Dwalin and Nori immediately sputtering defensively. That might have been interesting to hear, but right now he didn't have the energy. He wanted to check in on his daughter and then lie down for a bit, and everything else could wait until he'd had some proper rest. They were in Erebor, now, and he'd met Fíli; nothing else was so urgent it couldn't wait until the following day.

He was home at last.

That was a good thought to fall asleep to.

*

"So, let me get this straight." Dís crossed her arms across her chest, eyeing Thorin and Fíli in turn. Kíli was quite happy not to be the focus of attention right now, given her rather fierce look. "Fíli has a daughter, but didn't know about it until today, since he was enough of an idiot that he never even made it clear to his lover that he was looking for anything but some fun."

"That's what appears to be the case, yes." Kíli had to admit, Fíli was being admirably calm about all this. "I had no idea about any of this before I actually saw Ori with the baby."

"And I'm hoping you at least acted properly when you did find out."

"Quite admirably, in fact." Thorin spoke up in Fíli's stead, now. "He formally acknowledged the babe, as his child and his heir both. Couldn't have asked for better."

"Well, at least I haven't raised you entirely wrong, then." Dís nodded. "And I'm assuming you lot had a very good reason for not letting anyone know about this in advance?"

"Ori didn't want anyone to know." Bilbo spoke up, now, standing next to Kíli and Tauriel to the side. Dís had greeted him when he'd first come in, said something about how glad he was to finally put a face to Thorin's hopeless pining, and then immediately demanded an explanation from Kíli. Of course, once she'd heard the basics of his adventure, she had all but forgotten Kíli, thank Mahal. "He only barely allowed Kíli to send his letter to Thorin, however veiled it was, and even that was only after Kíli had sworn to protect him and the babe."

"I still can hardly believe he would think so lowly of me." Fíli sighed. "I know I wasn't as clear about my feelings as I should have been, but surely I never gave him reason to believe he had any reason to fear me!"

"He knew that those like him sometimes have reason to fear nobles." Kíli shook his head. "Can't really blame him for holding onto that fear, when he had something so precious to protect."

"Indeed. He is a Ri, isn't he? I've heard enough rumours to know that his family has born more than their fair share of wrongs." Dís shook her head. "There is no fear quite like when you fear for your child." Her face took on a pinched look, much like the expression she'd worn when she had first arrived in Erebor until she was sufficiently convinced that her family was all alive and relatively well. "And don't you dare blame him for having those fears. You are not the one who has been wronged, when he should have been certain of his rights from the start."

"No, I know that. I'm the one to blame, for not making my intentions clear to begin with."

"And what are those intentions, then?" Of course. It wasn't like anything could slip past their mother undetected.

"I plan to court him, if he'll allow." Fíli still didn't even flinch. Clearly his mind was set on this. "I plan to court him and marry him and make it clear to all that he is my One."

"Well! You seem certain of yourself." Dís nodded. "Very well. I didn't stand against your brother's choice, and I do not plan to oppose yours, or Thorin's for that matter. If something can break through the stony skulls of our family, then it must be true love indeed, and I'm not enough of a miracle worker to stand in the way of that sort of thing."

"I suppose you are right." Thorin smiled. "Of course, there is still the other matter regarding Fíli."

"Oh?" The gaze Dís gave her brother was rather similar to the one she employed whenever she thought one of her sons were up to no good. Kíli was just a bit satisfied to see it had almost the same effect on Thorin, who shrank back a little. "And what would that be?"

Thorin glanced at Fíli, who quickly backed away. "No! You're not pushing this on me. I've told her my news, you promised this would be a distraction, not another reason to put me on the spot!"

"Right." Thorin sighed, then turned to Dís with all the solemnity of a dwarf facing certain doom. "The fact is… I plan to abdicate."

"You are going to abdicate." Dís's voice was clear of any inflection whatsoever.

"Exactly." Thorin nodded. "I know Fíli is still young to be taking the throne in full capacity, but from what I've gathered he has done rather well leading the mountain in my absence, and of course I will still be around to advise him as need be. I'm not hoping to run from my responsibilities, but I do not want to risk bringing the sickness to the mountain again, nor do I wish to bind Bilbo to myself with the knowledge that standing by me would also tie him to the mountain without escape."

"Well! Can't say I've heard you say anything so sensible in quite a while." Dís nodded. "Good thing it seems Fíli already has the heir side of things sorted out, isn't it?"

Thorin blinked. "You are not going to protest?"

"Should I? You seem to have valid reasons, and in any case it's hardly my place to say what you do with your crown. If Fíli isn't against it, I see no reason to interfere." Dís clicked her tongue. "Well, then! I think it's about time you all get something to eat, and you can fill me in on everything you've been up to recently. Including, of course, anything you can tell me about my granddaughter. I rather suspect Fíli would like to hear more about her, too."

Fíli didn't comment on that, but then, he didn't need to. Kíli could see the soft look in his eyes well enough.

Good thing he had plenty of stories to tell about his niece, if only to distract his brother and mother both from the fact they would soon need to start planning a coronation.

Too bad it was probably bad form for him to flee from the mountain for a second time so soon.

*

Fíli had always imagined his coronation would be a matter of sorrow as much as it would be one of celebration.

After all, such things seemed to require by their very nature that a loss had taken place, the enormity of which he had not dared to even imagine before the day he'd been certain his brother was lost to them. For him to take the crown Thorin would have to die, surely, and thus he had always imagined he would take the crown with grief and pain, certainly not joy.

He had never imagined it might be Thorin himself who pressed that crown onto his head after he took his oaths to serve his kingdom and his people, that he might receive a proud smile and an encouraging nod from someone else than just his brother and mother before he turned to face the cheering crowd. However, that was what was happening now, and he wasn't sure anything could have brought him more joy than this, not on his coronation day.

Well. Perhaps one or two things, but it wasn't the time for that just yet.

"Dwarves of Erebor!" It took them a moment to settle down, but that was fine. He could wait until his voice was heard properly. "You have all heard my vows and seen me crowned, and I hope to serve you as others of my line have served you before me. I cannot promise to be half the king my uncle has been, but then, if I achieve half of what he has, I think I can call myself a great king indeed."

There was more cheering, and from the corner of his eye he saw Thorin's mouth twitching in a way that made it clear he was resisting the urge to say something less than polite, no doubt embarrassed by such a declaration. Good thing for them both it was Fíli's turn to speak, now.

"As tradition dictates, my first act should be to name my heir." Like he had been named Thorin's mere years before when Thorin had finally been crowned King of Durin's Folk after having acted as one for decades already. "Kíli?"

It was a bit of a trick, he knew, but he supposed he should be allowed that much. Everyone outside the immediate circle of the Company expected him to call Kíli his heir, after all, to keep his position in the line. The crowd gasped as one and broke into murmurs, then, when Kíli stepped forward holding a child in his arms. Nuoli was a bit shy at being in front of so many people, this being her first public appearance, but she remained calm in her uncle's arms as Kíli murmured something in her ear.

"I give you Nuoli, daughter of Fíli, son of Dís, my firstborn child and heir, the crown princess of Erebor." Dís stepped forward now, smiling as she set a little golden circlet on Nuoli's head. The child immediately reached up to touch the strange thing on her head, but Fíli was hardly going to stop her; the distraction kept her from startling as there was a new wave of cheers in her honour. It had been a long time since they'd had a crown princess, so it was hardly a wonder everyone was excited to welcome her.

Fíli waited until Kíli and Dís had both stepped back, taking Nuoli with them. He wasn't done quite yet, and as much as he agreed with everyone that his daughter was worthy of all the adoration in the world, he did want the full attention of the crowd when he delivered his next point.

Fíli glanced over to where Ori stood with his brothers, eyeing Nuoli with barely concealed anxiety. Not that he doubted Kíli's ability to care for Nuoli, from what Fíli could tell Ori considered Kíli a rather skilled child-minder, but he probably feared Nuoli might start a fuss nevertheless in the middle of the solemn ceremony. Aside from those worries, though, he looked much better than he had a few weeks ago when he'd first returned to Erebor. Happier, certainly, and not weighed down by any worries more enormous than whether his daughter would suddenly start shouting in front of the entire crowd.

That was good, this Ori without worries and fears, the one who met his eyes with a nod and a small smile when he noticed Fíli looking at him. Things were still a bit uncertain between them after these few weeks, but it was the uncertainty of a new relationship and not knowing where things were headed, rather than anything built on fear and doubts. Fíli rather hoped to keep Ori smiling like that, now and always.

"Ori, son of Vuori. Will you step forward?" 

This time there were murmurs among the Company, too, who this far had known what to expect. This part, though, was a surprise to everyone except Fíli and the couple of people he had chosen to confide in. He could only hope they would all approve of his plans, particularly Dori and Nori. The last thing he wanted was to cause Ori any more grief.

"Your Majesty?" Ori's voice was almost hesitant as he stepped forward, giving Fíli a quick bow. And, no, that was not right, Ori should never have been bowing down to him, bowing down to anyone.

"Stand up, Ori. I will not have you bow to me." He almost felt sorry for putting Ori on the spot like this, but he couldn't back off, not now. This needed as many witnesses as he could possibly get, and he could hardly hope for more than all the collected dwarves of Erebor.

Ori blinked but straightened, looking unsure. Not that Fíli could blame him. They had discussed the ceremony somewhat, but only in regards to Nuoli and how she ought to be named. This was all a surprise for Ori, but then, it had to be. It wouldn't have meant as much if they'd planned it together.

"I have wronged you." And with just that, a few simple words, he brought the entire large hall to a complete hush. "You loved me, and I let you doubt my love. You made me smile, and I brought you tears. You gave me a daughter, and I left you alone. And yet you have returned, you stand before me once again, and I thank Mahal that he has given me this chance to do what I ought to have done a long time ago."

There was no sound at all as he paused, then knelt down on the floor in front of Ori. Even Ori seemed too shocked to do or say anything much.

"I would give you my love, if you will have it." He reached into the little pocket in the seam of his formal robes and dug out the braid he'd had prepared for a long time now. He'd woven it out of his own hair and sealed the ends in gold long before he had even known if he might ever see Ori again, knowing that if he couldn't present it to Ori he would not give it to anyone else either. "I offer you my courtship, for you to have or reject. If you cast me away, I will have no other, as Mahal and all the dwarves of Erebor stand here as my witnesses. You are my One, and if I cannot have you, no other love can fill my heart again as long as I live."

For a moment Ori was silent, not moving, and Fíli started to wonder if this was too much after all, if he had failed again. It would hardly have been the first time. Then Ori opened his mouth as though to speak, only to close it, then open it again. "There never was any need to ask," Ori said, his voice soft as his hand closed around the offered braid. "Even when I was elsewhere, my heart always belonged with you."

Then Ori was offering him a hand, and after a moment's thought Fíli took it, staggering to his feet the best he could. The crowd broke into cheers once again, and Fíli almost thought they were even louder now than the cheers for their new king or the crown princess. He might have just imagined it, though, it wasn't like he truly had attention for anything but Ori, sweet, beautiful Ori who was standing in front of him and smiling at him as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

He was certainly sure that the cheers got even louder when he drew Ori into a deep kiss, but then, that was quite unimportant compared with kissing his One.

*

"Hey, Tauriel?"

"Hm?" She didn't move, enjoying the peace and warmth of lying in bed next to her husband. The fire was fading low in the fireplace, but the clever contraptions channelling the heat from the grand forges kept the room comfortable enough even in their unclothed state.

"You ever think about children?" Kíli's tone was light enough, yet she could sense the slight tension in him, in the way his fingers halted just for a moment in their task of drawing simple pictures on the skin of her stomach.

"Sometimes, certainly." Except she knew that wasn't all he was asking. "It is a strange thing to contemplate, somehow, when I cannot even know if we would ever be granted such a blessing. But it is natural enough to consider, I think, with those around us becoming parents."

"Right." Kíli moved a bit closer, smelling of sweat and sex and something she had started to associate with home, and she had to resist the urge to press her face into his hair and breathe deep. This was a conversation that deserved her full attention. "I — I've been thinking about it, sometimes. Hard not to, with Nuoli and everything."

"Indeed. You seem to be rather good at handling her, at least." Tauriel hummed a bit. "Would you like that, then? A child or two of our own?"

"If we're granted that, sure. But I know that might not happen, what with us being so different." Kíli's hand stilled, fingers splaying over her stomach. "I'm happy either way, really. Even if we never have a child, I'll still have Nuoli to play with and everything. I want to be with you, even if that might mean I'll never be a father, rather than be with anyone else for the hope of children."

"I used to think I was already lost to such things, to be honest." Tauriel chuckled as Kíli made a confused sound. "I know I am young for an elf, but most of our people marry early in life, and have what children they might early in that union. An elf my age who is still childless will often remain so for the rest of their time."

"I guess that does explain how you don't have enormous families, living so long." Kíli snuggled a bit closer to her. "But then, we're not exactly a typical case of anything, are we?"

"I suppose we are not, no." Tauriel smiled into the soft darkness of the room. "But you know, I rather like it that way."

His response to this was to kiss her, which, really, she had no objections to that.

*

Erebor, Bilbo was finding, was never truly quiet.

He had once thought it a very quiet place indeed, sneaking through the dusty halls of a long-dead settlement, but the Erebor he now found himself living in was quite different from the one that had housed nothing but a dragon and enormous piles of gold. There were people rushing about at all hours of the night, guards and miners and servants and merchants keeping the corridors full of life even when most of the mountain was sleeping. At regular intervals he would hear the sound of large bells, tolling the hour even into the otherwise peaceful silence of the royal quarters, deep enough that the first night he had spent there he'd very nearly fallen out of bed in fright as the sound startled him awake. Now he was used to it, the bells and the distant sounds of life that even the thick stone walls could not quite drown out, yet while he could sleep through it all if he wished he still sometimes found himself lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, listening to the life of a mountain.

Sometimes he could swear he heard something besides the usual signs of a living mountain, something besides Thorin's deep breaths beside him in the darkness and the last crackle of a dying fire. There was a soft hum that seemed to emanate from the very stones themselves, a deep pulse just below his hearing threshold, impossible to catch yet undeniably there. The first time he had told Thorin about this, his dwarf had seemed thoughtful for a moment, then concluded that it might tie to the great forges and the warm air and water they circulated throughout the mountain. Bilbo was dubious that such a system would even exist, but he had to admit that even without a fire their rooms were never exactly cold, and then if anyone could have devised such an ingenious contraption it would surely have been dwarves.

It was that hum that he listened to now, for once lying awake in the morning instead of late at night. He'd woken from a rather disturbing dream featuring the pale creature underneath Goblin Town and found himself unable to go back to sleep. He might have gotten up and made the most of his unusually early morning, but instead he chose to linger near Thorin and listen to the hum of a living mountain. It was an interesting sound, and quite different from the early mornings back in Hobbiton. Not a bad kind of different, though. Rather, it served well to remind me just why he had left his old home behind.

Of course, the big, warm, snoring dwarf at his side was an even better reminder.

Thorin stirred just as Bilbo moved closer to him, and for a moment Bilbo thought he'd startled him awake. Before he could offer an apology or anything of the kind, though, Thorin shot up from bed, hardly even noticing Bilbo as he stumbled out of bed and towards the bathroom. Blinking in surprise, Bilbo rolled out of bed as well. He was quite sure he'd never seen Thorin in that much of a rush to take a piss.

By the time he got to the bathroom, the reason for Thorin's rush was clear. The plumbing of the old royal quarters, rather impressive even to Bilbo's comfort-loving hobbit eyes, were put to test as Thorin threw up what looked like most of his dinner from the night before. Bilbo fought against his initial instinct to back away and instead walked up to Thorin, reaching to touch his shoulder.

"Thorin?" He'd waited until Thorin took a moment to pause in his sickness before speaking, the almost-silence seeming strange after the less than appetising sounds just before. "Are you all right?" A stupid question, really. Way to show your caring, Bilbo.

"I will be." Thorin offered him a wan smile. "Thank you for your concern, though."

"Did you eat something bad?" Bilbo frowned. He didn't think that was the case, they'd shared dinner after all, and he wasn't feeling the slightest bit queasy. And he had been told several times on the journey that dwarven stomachs were not easily upset. "Or are you coming down with something?"

"I suppose you could say that." Thorin's chuckle was weak, but at least he didn't seem entirely miserable. "If my suspicions are correct, though, it should clear up in a couple of months or so."

"Months?" Bilbo echoed. That didn't sound good at all. To be nauseous for months! That truly gripped his hobbit heart with icy claws. "Why would you be sick for months?"

"Well, I'm not certain yet, since I haven't visited a healer. Since this isn't the first morning I find myself nauseous, though, I have a rather firm suspicion of what could be the matter." The smile was stronger now, genuine despite his wan countenance. "I rather think I might be with child."

Right after that Thorin seemed to be hit by a new wave of nausea, but that was just as well. Bilbo felt he rather needed a moment to process that, anyway.

Well. It was probably a good thing he hadn't been in much of a hurry to head back to the Shire, anyway.


End file.
